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I had a chat with Ps Eunice (one of the judges for our debate yesterday) this arvo and she said that of the four wine debates she has judged, she felt that ours was the best one that she has heard! She said Andrew, Grant and I delivered the strongest and most confident speeches, which were what convinced her our team should win. I thought it was especially funny that Ps Di, another of our judges, commented that she would love to come over to Grant's house some time to see his wine bottle uses! :-) haha

To drink or not to drink wine

Well today my team won the debate in favor of drinking red wine! It was a great victory because Andrew (our team captain) and I wrote everyone else's speeches, cos our team members were particularly lazy and passive about the whole challenge. It was actually very satisfying to hear our own words being read out :-) I wrote a convincing speech about the health benefits of wine and then I prepared a speech for Grant and Douglas, two African guys, to deliver. Grant's speech was especially funny, being on the uses for the wine bottle, as a convincing reason to drink wine :-) haha ...it was absolutely hilarious. I'm sure only he was the only member of our team who could have done it without losing it laughing like the rest of our team did when we were just listening to him.

Here's my speech and his...

Health benefits of drinking wine

Coming from a science background, I was very interested to look into the health benefits of drinking wine and especially because in 1 Timothy 5:23 it says to “use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities”. To be honest, with all the media attention given to the negative aspects of alcohol, I was amazed to discover that a small amount of wine consumed daily is actually beneficial to our health.

We believe as a team that the Bible doesn’t forbid the consumption of wine, but like with many other things (e.g. the way we use our money, handle relationships, etc...), it sets clear parameters for how we should use it.

By a small amount, we mean ¾ cup for women and 2 cups for men per day, because this is what reaps the most health benefits. Also, as supported by the many biblical references including both wine and food, it is best sipped slowly during a meal. Red wine is better than white because it contains the skin, seeds and stems of grapes.

- Some of you may know that heart disease is the leading cause of death in developed countries, accounting for up to 50% of all deaths.

- Studies have consistently shown that consuming small amounts of wine reduces mortality from heart disease (caused by strokes and heart attacks). As Douglas will discuss later, the majority of people in France consume a small amount of red wine daily with their meals, and as a nation, France has among the lowest rates for heart disease in the world.

- Studies have shown that moderate drinkers live longer than those who either don’t drink at all, or who drink heavily.

- Now for some personal testimonies – two of my family members had laser eye surgery and were both given a glass of red wine prior to the procedure because it is a well known relaxant and alleviates anxiety! Why would wine be included as part of the protocol if it was detrimental to your health?

- My mum had a couple of stokes about eight years ago caused by blood clots being pumped through her heart and into her brain and she takes nothing more but a glass of red wine a day and has had no further health problems.

How does wine benefit the heart?
Put very simply, when a person’s arteries become blocked with fat deposits, blood clots form and can cause heart attacks and strokes. Wine:

- stimulates the production of good cholesterol, which removes the fat deposits (grape juice does not do this);
- contains anti-oxidants, which inhibit fat deposits from forming in the artery walls (anti-oxidant activity increases with fermentation, so wine is better than grape juice);
- reduces the ability of red blood cells to clot together, so blood flow is made easier; and
- has an anti-inflammatory effect.

Another interesting finding, is that more recent studies have shown that wine can be beneficial to the stomach with regard to stomach ulcers and food poisoning, because it has been shown to reduce the rate of infection of the bacteria associated with these problems (Helicobacter pylori , Eschericia coli, listeria and salmonella).

So I conclude that a small amount of red wine can actually be beneficial to your health!

This is the speech I wrote for Grant....

The benefits of the wine bottle
Among the many benefits of drinking wine is the extremely useful bottle it is enclosed in!

In the garden
- Wine bottles can be inverted into the ground around a garden bed to make an excellent retaining wall. The small dip on the base of the bottle collects rain water, forming a small reservoir that attracts beautiful butterflies and birds to brighten up your garden.

- Wine bottles can be used as table legs, for a durable, creative alternative to other materials.

- Wine bottles make excellent garden lamps – simply drill a hole in the base and feed white Christmas string lights through it. Then add some glass beads to make a particularly beautiful creation to enhance your garden.

- Wine bottles can be used to make wine bottle trees [The original idea came from Africa, where it was believed that the reflective light emitted from the bottles would scare off any evil spirits from a person’s home. Nowadays, wine bottle trees serve as invaluable, innovative and artistic features for your garden]. Unlike real trees, wine bottle trees do not require fertilizers or water and will not die.

In the home
- For the lounge room, wine bottles can be decorated (e.g. with paint and ribbons) to make beautiful vases and candle holders. They can also be used to display small cars, model houses, etc… on the mantle piece. They can be filled with water and the ink inserts from highlighter markers, then put in front of a black light to create an illuminating art piece.

- For the kitchen, wine bottles can decorated and filled with food substances, such as nuts, rice, herbs, spices, pasta, dried fruit, chilli, etc… Cheap corks can be purchased to close the tops. Alternatively, wine bottles can be used to store liquid substances, such as oil, water, vinegar, detergent, in which case cheap spouts can be purchased to transform the humble wine bottle into a stylish dispenser.

- For the bathroom, wine bottles can be decorated and filled with bath salts, fragranced oil, beads, sea glass, shells or marbles to make beautiful decorations for your window-sill.

- Wine bottles can be crushed and the glass fragments used to make colorful mosaic art pieces for the home.

- With the help of a glass cutter, wine bottles can be cut and made into unique tumbler glasses and vases.

Gift ideas / soul winning
- All the previous ideas can be used as unique evangelism tools to stimulate conversations with strangers, ultimately leading to soul winning!

Angelina's first birthday party

This is me and my cute little niece ... all excited for her party! Her best friend Eva from college also came. Eva is 2.5 months older. I was particularly touched that Kristin's parents came, despite Kristin not showing up. Kylie and Brett came with their three kids and Tam and then a whole lot more.... whose piccies I can't be bothered uploading.

Ant exterminator

I hate ants so much. For some odd reason, they used to frequently visit my bathroom, where I would find them all around the bath tub. Yucko. I tried so many cheap and nasty treatments available from the local supermarket, but to no avail. What finally worked, however, was a more expensive product called Amdro (spelling?). It costs $70 from Bunnings apparently. It comes in the form of small light brown granules that you place in each ant mound you see inside. In just over a week, I had no ants. However, some three weeks later, I have found a few. Grrrrrr, so I am off to buy some. The first lot came from a lovely older guy at college, who said he had some spare. I may as well buy my own now.

Saturday

Went past the op-shop in Scarborough Beach Rd today to drop off some clothes. Julz just gives me so many clothes, it's all too much! I can only find new owners for so many, then it just become hard labor :0) haha Then I went to the shops and bought some stuff I've been meaning to get for a while now - stuff like lavender bleach to clean the bathroom floor and make my house smell nice at the same time, cotton wool, cotton buds, matches, shoe inserts, dried parsley, pepper and sesame seeds for putting the finishing touches on my puff pastry creations, then some milk, bbq chicken, coleslaw, tomotoes, cheese and bread for lunch. Sweet. I love living on my own and buying whatever I want to put in my fridge.

Today Tammy is moving into a 2-bedroom unit in South Perth on her own. It's amazing how much we have in common - we both wanted to live on our own, we both dislike little nick-nacks around the home, we snack on the same healthy stuff, we're both gifted in the area of admin and feel this is what God wants us to do with our lives, we were both offered the exact same job at church only she got offered it a couple of years earlier cos she started Bible college before me, we have similar work ethics (even if we finish the tasks earlier than our shift of work, we will both stay until the end and just find other work to do), we both volunteer in VLC bookshop on Sunday night, we both get complimented a lot for our customer service skills ... :o)

Quite funny. I have the hugest amount of respect for Tammy. She is only 20 years old, yet she is extremely mature for her age, more mature than friends I have that are much older. I love the way that she loves people. They matter to her. She is not a respecter of persons, but treats everyone with kindness and respect. What a model deacon ... (yup, that's the name given to church workers apparently!).

So, anyways, now I have to get my priorities right and discipline myself to study in preparation for my upcoming exam on "Understanding the Annointing" and my argument to support the drinking of wine for my upcoming role in the debate for "Christian Ethics" on "to drink or not to drink".

Stories from my office buddy ...

Today Ps David told me that when he was really young he lived in the country and his parents didn't have a car to take him and his two sisters and mum to church. So his dad would ride his push bike to church and leave him with him sisters and mum. Because his mum was gifted in teaching from the Bible and didn't want her sons to miss church, she would set up the lounge room and invite the children into her own little church service. Then she would teach them from the Bible and even collect up an offering from them and put it in an envelope.

When Ps David's dad went to church each week, he would take the envelope with him to put it into their collection. Now that is soooooooooooooooo sweet :-) Ps David's sisters are both older than him. The eldest is 81, the next down is four years older than him. I think he is 73, though I am not sure and not game to ask :-) haha

We also had a good convo about the power of people's words over us. I told him how when I was in first year, my life seemed very unstable and I told Ps Judy how I couldn't guarantee I would come in regularly. She told me it was just a season and that it was ok because I was diligent. Her words impacted me greatly, because mum always tells me I am lazy. Her words have caused me to strive for diligence and I know that is now one of my best qualities.

Ps David said how when he was young, he would walk away from fights and so girls and boys at school would call him a sissy and all sorts of unpleasant names. He said it greatly affected him as well.... but God had counteracted that in him. He said he didn't understand back then the power of speaking God's Word out loud. It's like it just builds you up, makes you strong on the inside and changes your perception of youself. I am really starting to love Ps David. Our little chats are the highlight of my job.

Red cardigan

Last week, Julz gave me a box of brand new designer clothes, mostly my size. Among them was a lovely red cardigan. It looked nice on me, but for some reason, I just didn't feel that I should keep it. So i packed it back into its plastic bag and went to do something else. Then I heard the Holy Spirit say to give it to Suzie, a lady at college. I was really wrestling with whether it really was God's Spirit or just my imagination, cos I really wasn't sure what size clothes she takes and didn't want to offend her by giving her something too small. So I put it in a box and pushed it to the back of my wardrobe. I figured I would go to college to suss out whether I thought she was the right size for it.... it was really hard to tell cos she wears lots of baggy clothes.

Anyway, then on Sunday night, I flet this urging in me to do it.... so I brought it in Monday. At morning tea I went up to her and told her I had a brand new cardigan and was wondering if she might like it...then she followed me to my classroom and when she saw it, she just started crying and she told me she was having such a terrible day and didn't know if she was meant to be at Bible college and that red was her favourite colour and that she absolutely loved the cardigan and it meant so much to her that I would give it to her :o) Wow, now that was the confirmation I needed. I prayed for her and halfway through she started laughing and saying God had given her joy. Praise God. Totally made my day!

Prophetic words

God is truly amazing. Was just thinking about the events of the last few weeks.

Last month, I was fretting about what to do - whether to give up my church job or retain it. My main reason for wanting to give it up was to spend more time in reading my college notes to get the most out of what I am being taught. I also wanted to spend more time in prayer and to be there for mum and her dogs. Pretty genuine reasons really. Also, I thought someone else could benefit from the opportunity to have their college fees paid. I never really needed the money because I have some good savings, plus I do babysitting, so that covers my expenses.... I can't give up babysitting, well I could, but I don't want to. I am Angelina'a personal coach with regard to teaching her what the Bible says and praying for her daily to fulfill God's amazing call on her life.

Anyway, the same African brother who gave me that encouraging word in my last blog post told me he had a vision for me. He saw a crossroad before me. He said I was standing before it and wanting to go a different way to the one God wanted for me. He felt a burden to pray for me. Around that time I talked to Tammy, who was the second last person to hold that role. I told her my feelings about resigning and she advised against it. She said that if I have committed in any way to a timeframe to be in that job, then I need to honor it. Like, if for example, I have said I will be there for a year, then I need to stay (that gave it away that she had spoken to Ps Judy!). She also said that just because other people may appreciate the opportunity more, they are not necessarily suitable for the job.

It made me think. I thought about how the Holy Spirit was the one who recommended me in the first place - the pastors prayed and He gave them my name. I recall one day months earlier than that how I saw my predecessor in the role and had this little thought that I'd like to do her job (I know the thought was not my own - in hindsight I realise it was the Holy Spirit stirring me). I thought about how I had transformed the job and spent countless hours on the holidays making spreadsheets to better manage the data, spreadsheets that no one else knows how to use cos they haven't had training in Excel. I thought about how a third year student told us how, many years ago, she was very privileged to receive an admin job at the church that paid her fees. I thought about all the other students who were not considered for the opportunity. I thought about my high work ethics since day one of the job, how I have become the sort of employee I would personally hire if I needed someone - the type who works hard, strives for excellence, doesn't waste time with idle chit chat, etc... and I came to the realisation that God had planted me there, so I decided to stay.

Shortly after having peace in my heart that I was to remain in the church job, this African brother of mine asked me what I had done, because he sensed I had peace and he no longer discerned a crossroad before me, but rather that I had taken the right path. How amazing that God would tell him!

He also shared another vision for me. He said God told him I have a great and bright future ahead of me - God said that to him three times. He said he saw a bright light - very bright. He said God told him I am an intercessor and I will clear the way for many. He saw me carrying the burdens of many people. He said God will equip me. He said he saw me with a sword in my hand. He said God's plan will take me on a path I don't expect. A diversion as he saw it.

The more I think about my future, the more I feel as though God wants me to stay at the church, but I have thrown an ultimatum at Him. I told Him that if He truly wants me to stay there, then He had better bring my future spouse into my life beforehand, or else I would not go into ministry. Fair enough, I mean I am 33 now (as of last Thursday) and I have been standing on God's Word for a very long time. I haven't dated anyone for about eight years now! I have withdrawn from relationships I could have pursued, but didn't because I knew they were not God's will for my life. I have laid down my career and all my desires to pursue God with all my heart. I know He has the right partner for me - a man of integrity, faithfulness and purity. A mighty man of valor who loves the Lord with all his heart, is a diligent student of the Word, a mighty prayer warrior, fit, healthy, attractive, intelligent, easy-going and who knows how to deal with my family. One who deeply loves me and is committed to me... the one whose name is beside mine in the scroll of the Lord. The Holy Spirit told me this man is searching for me. God's Spirit will bring us together..... wow.

Delight your self in the Lord ...

...and He will give you the desires of your heart [Psalm 37:4]. Well today, one of my African brothers told me that the thing i have been desiring for a long time will come to me in three weeks time. If that happens, i intend to bless him with $1,000. Ok Lord, well it is definitely time as far as I'm concerned....and surely, You must be getting sick of my daily prayer about this matter :-) I love you Lord with all my heart.

New Internet connection :-)

I am sooooo excited. For my birthday, Julz bought me a pre-paid mobile broadband Internet plan! Glory to God. What is expensive to me is not expensive to her! Wow, i am so blessed!!!