Digital Cocaine

Have you noticed more aggressive behaviour in your children when they've been on digital devices for a half hour or more?

Have you been given 'the look' or a mouth full of disrespectful 'attitude' from your child when you've asked them to get off their device?

Are you feeling helpless and lost as to how to get your precious child back from their insatiable hunger for digital media?

If you've answered 'yes' to one or more of these questions then you're in there with the vast majority of parents.  But there is an answer.

Brad Huddleston, international expert on digital technologies, provides amazing explanations and insights as to what science has proven is happening to your child when they engage with digital media.

Amazing as it sounds, but the brain doesn't know the difference between half a line of cocaine and an hour playing a video game!  It responds without prejudice, releasing a powerful natural chemical that can lead people to wanting more, and eventual addiction.

In Digital Cocaine, Brad Huddleston will replace your confusion, hesitancy and fear as it relates to the digital world with the facts that can make you and your family safer and more secure from day one.   See The Dark Side of Technology website for more information.  Visit the DVD Review/Sample DVD.

To purchase the Digital Cocaine DVD in Australia, go to Vision Christian Media Store.

Getting Along - The Key

There is a key that fits every relationship door.  It opens the door regardless of culture or where in the world you may live.

That key is Respect.

The word 'Respect' conjures up many things in people's minds and depending on your perspective, it can be something that is liberating or it can be something that creates great internal conflict.

To respect does not mean to agree with or side with.  In a simple way, it means to accept that others may think and act differently to you for their own reasons.  And these reasons will remain unknown to you unless you win their confidence and show a genuine interest in their thinking and reasoning.

In this same way, a journalist can sit down face to face with the leader of a terrorist organisation and learn why they are so passionate about their cause and what they're willing to do for it.  The journalist would not be afforded the same opportunity if they were to seek an interview just so that they could attack that leader and their organisation in the Press.

We're challenged every day in our relationships with others, as you'd expect when you're in among 7.4 billion other people, all of who have different personalities, life experiences, and influences.  We can't change people to our liking so our best chance of getting along is to do things God's way, starting with Respecting others (1 Peter 2:17).

'Getting Along' is a new series about life from a fresh perspective.  See the article at Getting Along (#3) The Key.

Note:  Interesting thing about respecting others...it may take effort but it doesn't change anything about who we are - it just creates a much better space in which to get along.

Getting Along - The Family

 As family, we can carry distinctive features and traits that are passed on from parents to children.  This doesn't make us clones of our parents but it does mean we carry a family characteristic.  It is discernible and part of what defines us - people can recognise the similarities found in family.

God's sense of humour carries into family...He binds us together in our DNA and then says..."Here you go - live, learn, love, laugh and enjoy your life together...and celebrate your differences."

"Celebrate your differences"  He says.  Like it was an instruction to add chocolate topping to the ice cream so we'd appreciate the ice cream more.

Celebrate our differences?!!! Did He have any idea what that was going to look like?

We spend our lives trying to keep the peace with family as we discover our differences, tolerate our differences as best we can, avoid discussing our differences whenever we don't feel like tolerating them...and never really get our heads around "celebrating" them until we're too old to enjoy celebrating anything.

Unless of course, we spend time with God and learn from Him how wonderful family really is and how we can indeed, celebrate our differences.  And thankfully, we have DNA that keeps us connected throughout the journey.

'Getting Along' is a new series about life from a fresh perspective.  See the article at Getting Along (#2) The Family.

Note:  Interesting thing about the Cacti family...they're more impenetrable when they stick together.  We could learn something from that.

Getting Along - A New Series

God has a wicked sense of humour.  He fills a planet with people (currently 7.3 billion), giving each one the power of free will while also giving each one the gift of uniqueness.  He then says..."Off you go, have fun...but don't forget Me."  (paraphrased)  We hear the "Off you go, have fun" bit and in the vast majority of cases, forget Him.  You can just hear Him saying to Himself..."This should be interesting..."

Well, we all live our lives according to ourselves - that's the free will and uniqueness thing in full swing.  The consequences are, we struggle to get along as we passionately and determinedly pursue 'our way' of living life.

One reason God said "...but don't forget Me" was so that we could give Him opportunity to guide us and counsel us in life, in getting along with others, using His wisdom.  The proof of forgetting Him is around us everywhere, all across the planet.  Using our 'wisdom', we end up in trouble.  Remembering Him and using His wisdom we avoid trouble and can actually get along.

'Getting Along' is a new series about life from a fresh perspective.  The first article is found at Getting Along (#1) - The Lens.

Note:  Interesting thing about Cacti - if you respect them, you can get close enough to appreciate them.  If you don't approach them with respect, you'll find they have an interestingly painful defense mechanism.  Sound familiar?

Returning To Your First Love

There is a zeal and a passion when we first allow the Holy Spirit into out lives.  Nothing concerns us, nothing can take our experience away from us.  The honeymoon begins.

Life is full of growth and challenges.  Throughout the Bible man has battled and struggled with Gods perfect ways and because of our freedom God offers us we make mistakes.  We learn from them, and return to Him only to makes more mistakes.  As times go on we deal with issues on our own and tend not to call on God as much as we first did.  We still serve Him through His Grace but we tend to distant ourselves from the love we first had for Him.  God calls us to repent and return to that first love we had for Him.  Listen to the Message...

Refusing To Quit

Jesus has given us authority and power over every sickness and demon we will face.  The same way sickness and demons respond to Jesus is the same way they should respond to us as we are using His authority and power.

Jesus did not tell us to pray to the Father so He would come and fix it up but to have faith in His name and command sickness, demons and mountains to go.

Are you being bullied by sickness and demonic attacks?  Use His authority and power that is in His name to remove these mountains and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth about His wonderful name.  Freely you have received now freely give.  Listen to the Message...

Men's Breakfast & Church Together 2015

The Australia Day long weekend will see the many Christian churches from the local region combining in a 'Church Together' event on Warland Reserve on Sunday 25 January at 6.00pm. 

Hosted by the South Coast Combined Christian Churches, 'Church Together' was first held in 1999 and has since become an eagerly anticipated annual event.  With guest speakers coming from around Australia each year to be part of the event, 'Church Together' has been attracting a growing crowd each year with close to 700 people attending it in 2014.  It is also seen as an important gathering of community by leaders who attend from all levels of government (local, state and federal), educational institutions, business and other community organisations.  In the spirit of community generosity, the event is also supported in kind by the Rotary Club of Victor Harbor through the use of their Art Show tent each year.

The guest speaker for 'Church Together' 2015 is Pastor Ian Zerna who is the Senior Pastor of Impact Church, NSW.  His powerful visionary leadership has captured the hearts of thousands of people both nationally and internationally, igniting them to fulfil their God-given destiny.  Ian moves in the gift of faith and has seen God’s provision in many areas of ministry including three multi-million dollar building programs and missions programs reaching the nations. His dynamic and inspiring teaching will release faith for seeing God’s vision outworked in people's lives.

His proven apostolic ministry has seen God raise up outstanding works in both SA & NSW. He has a powerful gift to impart vision and faith into leaders and churches, with a dynamic prophetic edge.   

Pastor Zerna will also be speaking at a Men's Breakfast on Saturday 24 January, being held at the Grosvenor Hotel from 7.15am.  Entry is by pre-paid tickets which are $20 per person and can be purchased by calling Gary Clarke on 0438 818 972.