Dear Kev

It is time for you to grow a set. Man up! It is time you stopped putting the game into disrepute by your ridiculous antics. The fairy push that made you fall over like you were hit like a truck was a joke yesterday. Last year it was stated that acts of simulation that caused someone to be sent off would be punished harshly. So FFA do something about the disgrace to the game that is Kevin Muscat and suspend him.

Election 2010

My thoughts on the election, hm. I think that if either party had put across a positive message during the campaign they would have won the election. Sadly this is not the way the Australian political system seems to work any more. The major parties try to gain "points" on their opposition by digging up muck and being critical. I think if either party had focussed on what they would do right rather than what their opponent would do wrong they would have earned the respect of the Australian people. For a lot of people i spoke to it was a case of which party was the lesser of two evils.
Personally I have voted Labor all of my life. This election I could not bring myself to vote for a PM who in my opinion is so anti-God. She wishes to remove Christian education from public schools, but still leave the education of other religions in the curriculum. Not acceptable in my book. Her endorsement of the greens (while I understand why she did this) was another thing that turned me off Labor. In the end I voted for the Christian Democrats. I was asked to hand out their how to vote forms at Rivo and happily did so. That was an interesting experience. The bloke handing out the Labor forms turned more people off voting Labor (in my opinion) by sprouting a pile of negative propaganda in the ear of every person that walked past.
So who knows what we are going to end up with? Either way this country needs our prayers at the moment. I hope we end up with a leader who does well for the country, but to honest I really do not think it matters who gets in, they are all as bad as each other.

So what next God?

Its funny, sometimes i look into the future and worry about what might come. I don't feel like that at the moment. I am pretty much looking at my life at the moment and thinking, ok God, I have no clue what is going to happen in my life over the next year or so, and you know what, I don't care. Whatever you have in store bring it on. Whatever you have planned for me I am ready. I am in a place where I am really trusting God for whatever he wants me to do and, you know what, it like that.

Spelling

Dear all, it occurs to me with the writing I have done tonight that it could well be full of spelling mistakes and gramatical errors. My apologies if this bothers you. I am useless when it come to this. Oh well.

Being a Christian

As I said previously, I am a Christian. So why and what does that mean?
I became a Christian back in 1998 when I was 26. I had just lost my mum and was going through a hard time in my life. Looking back at the person I was back then, I am not particlarly proud of that time in my life. I will not go into what I did not like as I do not think this is important. Rather I would rather discuss what God did in my life and how he has changed me. I was invited to a church camp by some friends. I was lonely at the time and thought why not? What have i got to lose? I do not know what I expected. I thought these Christians would be a bit weird, carry bibles around all day and sing Kum by yah (spelling may be dodgy there). I have great memories of that camp. First thing i noticed was that these Christian guys were ok, pretty normal and good value. And while I did not know what it was at the time I saw something in them that I realised I did not have. I have fond memories of a game of Risk, though playing risk as a way of meeting people may not always be a good idea if you are competitive like me. The people I met that night(if you read this you know who you all are) I have become good friends with now, they forgave me for beating them.
The first morning of camp we came together for a talk (there may have been music???), but the main thing was listening to that talk was like God talking straight to me and it all made sense. Afterwards I had an emotional chat with the Pastor and then went off had a think and realised that I had to make a decision for God right then. A year later I was baptised in that very cold lake and remember how great it felt. To be honest I can not even remember what was said in that talk but I guess what i want to do know is talk about why I am a Christian.
- I have a problem -
I have sinned. To get into Heaven one must be without sin. I took some time to be able to admit to some of my sins. Looking at the commandments though I can see some of my failings
Have i told lies - yes
Stolen things - yes
Blasphemed - yes
Adultery - yes - when Jesus came to earth he said whoever looks at a woman lustfully has commited adultery with her in his heart. So I am guily on this count.
So I realised that sin is a problem in my life. So what is the point. Well Jesus is. Why did he come? One way I once heard it described was like this. Imagine we all have a book with all of our sins written in it. The only way we can get into heaven is if our book is empty. When Jesus died on the cross he took the blame for all of our sins and will take our books away if we "confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."(Romans 10:9)
We can then stand in front of God with a clear concience.
I do not want anyone to read this and think that my only reason for being a Christian is so I can get to heaven. This is not the case. I am going to be completely honest here, at first my motivation was that I was A)scared of hell and B)I needed something to help fill the whole left by mums dying. Since then over the years it has grown into so much more. After making a decision for God, I realised there were things in my life I wanted to change. Not because I felt I had to, but because I wanted to live a life pleasing to God. I am so thankful for the work God has done in my life through me spending time with him and some of the wonderful Christian people he has put in my life. I love serving him. He has given me a passion for young people (I will blog about this later) which I love. I am a better person because of what God has done for me. I need to remember to thank him more often. It also never fails to amaze me how a book written thousands of years ago can apply to my life over and over again. God has taught me so much through his Word.
Well I hope all of this makes sense. If you are reading this and you have any questions, feel free to ask. I will try to answer them well.

A-League - Part 2

My predictions for this season
Sydney - It will come as no suprise to anyone that I am tipping Sydney to win the league again this year. Even though they have lost some of the best players from last season to other clubs and retirement they have bought very well. Liam Reddy, while I was initially concerned about him as in the past I have seen him to be a hothead, he is also a quality goalkeeper. Sydney are in a great position in the goalkeeping stakes as there is good competition for the spot. Scott Jamieson, will prove to be one of the best signings in the A-League this year. He is a young quality signing and finally Sydney have in him a player who can cross the ball. Nicki Carle is a proven quality player. On the field he is a class above the rest. He looks comfortable on the ball and will need to link well with the front two. Sydney must still find a striker from somewhere as Bridge tends to dissapeear at times. Brosque needs to have another excellent season as he is the most important player in the squad and if we were to lose him to injury we would struggle. I am still concerned about Cole as quite frankly I think he is the second most useless player in the league (that is only because Zadkovic is back in the league).
Melbourne Victory - I expect Melbourne Victory to make the finals this year, but not go any further. They will have a difficult start to the season without Thompson and will have to find goals somewhere else. Muscat will be the key to their team and I look forward to seeing him miss more penalties against Sydney.
Melbourne Heart - Heart have a quality team across the park. It is going to be weird seeing Bolton playing for somewhere else and I hope he is successful. Heart will finish high in the league. They have been smart in not making big prediction about themselves (are you listening Gold Coast?) and with other quality players like Skoko and Colosimo will be good to watch.
Perth Glory - My tip to complete the top three with Heart and Sydney. Perth will have big support this year. Robbie Fowler will do that for you. With good players around him this season I expect him to score many goals and be close to the golden boot.
Wellington - With the success of the Kiwi's at the world cup and with Wellington coming off a good last season they should be playing in front of good crowds this year. They have a few quality players and will puch for a top three spot.
Of the other teams I am rather apathetic. I think Nth Qld and Newcastle will struggle and the other teams to play for a spot in the finals. Of the others I think Brisbane are the most likely to challenge the to teams. I will be quite happy if the Gold Coast do not win a game all season, quite frankly I can not stand them, their idiot coach and the only player can not stand as much as Muscat, that being Culina.
In conclusion, COME ON SYDNEY FC!

The A-League - Part 1

As I previously said, I love football. I am really excited this week because the A-League is about to start again. The A-League has been one of the best things to in Australian football. People can watch quality football (despite what people who have never been to a game or watched one may think)in a good atmosphere. Last years grand final was one of my favourite moments ever watching sport. Going to Melbourne with mates, being well and truly in the minority in that we were supporting Sydney, seeing big Kev miss the penalty and then the time after the game celebrating the victory with the Sydney fans was brilliant and something I will remember for a long time. The near future of watching the A-League excites me. I think the quality of players in the league this year is the best it has been. It is going to be a difficult but close competition and this can only be good for the game.
Sadly the long term future of the A-League still concerns me. I think that the FFA needs to take some major steps if the A-league is going to be successful in the long term. First and foremost they need to be more willing to put money into promotint the league. Advertising outside of the Foxtel channels is next to non-existant. The game needs to be promoted to those people who are not just football fans. With this in mind I think it is therefore crucial to start showing games on commercial tv. I know with foxtel having the rights to the games this is difficult but without coverage of the league for everyone it is hard to promote the game. Long term they need at a minimum to at least show a highlights package on a commercial tv station (profferably not at 2am in the morning) Showing one game live a week would be a big step forward also. Without promoting the game further, crowds are likely to drop.
I love the game and want to see the A-League successful. I hope we can continue to bring quality player to the country and see teams visit like Rangers, Blackburn and Athens.

I am back

Well, it has been a long time since I have posted anything on here. I seem to have an unusually large amount of stuff running around in my head at the moment so I figure it is time to start again on here as if from scratch.
If you read this stuff you will find that I am a Christian, a football fanatic and can be very opinionate about some topics. Nothing I write here is intended to offend. Will start on writing shortly, there is an old man calling me to dinner at the moment.