The top 12 things I have learned from God the hard way.

It's rare that you'll find me so blatently speaking about God. I realise that most of the people I know couldn't care less about God or Christianity or Church but just for this one blog I thought I might make an effort to be a little bit less poetic and a little more straight.

These are a list of 12 things that God has taught me over the past seven years. They are personal revelations therefore they mean a lot to me and will probably not mean as much to you until God personally walks you through them. Enjoy.

1. Don't snatch. If God didn't give it to you, it's not yours to take... he will take it back. Just know that he has so many incredible things to give you (or perhaps that one amazing thing). You have to know though that sometimes you won't get them until the day you need them.

2. In our comfortable, self-serving lifestyle, it is often only the death around us (not the life) that forces us to realise and recognise our need for God.

3. You only get one lifespan, one moment in your entire existance to both recognise the beauty that is our creator and to begin a relationship with him. Make it count.

4. Think! Think for yourself. Reflect. Think about love and freedom and life. Let your mind twist through the God-borne complexity that is mercy & grace, liberty & salvation. Seek his answers and unearth his solutions. This kind of thinking is beautiful worship to God.

5. Jesus died not only for your salvation but also for liberation. The freedom he offers us is not only for after our death but also for today. Just know that liberation may not come wrapped in the packaging you were expecting.

6. Even though he is merciful & graceful, God still hates our sin. Overcoming sin however has less to do with self-discipline (although it plays a major part) and more to do with the building of a relationship with the Holy Spirit (being 'In Christ'). It is possible to be so influenced and inspired by the Holy Spirit that not only do you not feel the need to sin but you feel overwhelmingly passionate about doing only good (The fruits of the spirit).

7. The Bible talks about dying to your old life, or pouring your life out like a drink offering. This will seem incredibly hard and depressing until you realise that once you have given up that life, he replaces it with new life. This is often described as being comparitive to a prisoner being set free.

8. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are the kinds of things that God will develop inside of his people. It just happens, you can't force it or learn it from a text book. He will develop these things in you in his timing. These are the things that result from having the Holy Spirit in you, influencing you.

9. You have to be satisfied that God is the one who judges those who destroy the lives of others, the unjust and sinning people. God will always have the final say.

10. Sin is enslavement in disguise. True liberation begins in hearts that know they need to be right with God.

11. Mustards seeds are really really tiny but in time they grow, shooting roots, pushing up through the dirt becoming healthy plants, they then bloom flowers and drop seeds.

12. In the eyes of God, actively loving the people around you is just as important as the active worship of him. Infact the two are often spoken about together by Jesus.

107.3FM Music

So over the last two and a half years I've sort of moved into the position of Music Director at 107.3FM, which is a community radio station run by the Christian Church on the Gold Coast. The sound of the station has dramatically changed over the past four years, so I thought I'd shed some light on why and how we select what we play. Here's what I wrote:

"Positive, upbeat, life-giving music seasoned with moments of spiritual reflection"

Our music is all about moments. Moments in everyday lives, moments of everyday people. Moments of crisis and beauty, strength and gratitude

Life is fragile, as people, as friends, as sons & daughters and as parents we do our best to connect with those around us, it seems as though life is a battle to connect and communicate, we want to wish those we love only the very best but so often words fail to express our hearts. Music has this unexplainable way of expressing so often the things our heart cannot convey.

My role as a music director at a radio station whose primary mandate is to deliver an age old message to a restless community is simple. Play everyday music, the music of the street. Play music that doesn't tear down but builds, music that is positve, upbeat and fresh, music to create a powerful listener connection. Following this will be music that stimulates a faith-filled, life-giving dose of hope, a moment of vulnerability, an introduction to a loving God and a community renowned for its overwhelming compassion.

Perhaps I'm an idealist but I passionately believe in a God who is strong enough to cut through the critical moments of the everyday, he inspires us, he builds us and when we deviate and crash he restores us. He's placed within each of us a message of faith, hope and love and this radio station firmly holds high the music, the art and the expression of those who want nothing more than to give the world a moment with the God who has so fervently captured their lives. So please join with us and our supporters as we push our flickering candle of hope into our community's darkest places.