My vote for Australia's player of the tournament is Lucas Neill. He was solid in every game and it was disappointing to have such a poor penalty called against him.

Australia had a brilliant tournament and dominated every aspect of the game last night... except for the score sheet!

For me the greatest moment of Australia's 2006 World Cup was the second qualifying match vs Uruguay. After being cut that we didn't make it in 94, 98 and 02 World Cups it was huge just to make it there.

I know there's lots of people reading this blog... but not many comments... time for some comments...

What was your highlight of Australia's run in the 2006 World Cup?
Best Player?
Best goal?
Best game?
Best...?

This terrible tragedy helps to put losing a soccer match into perspective.

This is what Croatia will be doing in a few hours... going backwards... (Hrvatska is Croatia in Croatian).

Check this out

During this World Cup I have been very disciplined in getting up to watch the soccer at 5am in the morning... hits has been particularly impressive on the nights where I've watched a game the night before (therefore getting 3 hours sleep!). This morning was difficult to get up... yet I still did.

Statement: we make time for what's important.

I am convinced that reading the Bible is of infinite more worth than watching a football match... yet my discipline in getting up to read the Bible is lacking. Are you ever like this?? You make time for the menial (soccer, The Simpsons, cleaning your teeth) but neglect that which is more important...

Last night at growth group we again prayed for a group at the World Cup (as well as Botswana and a family from church going there for a couple of years). This week's group: GROUP G. We prayed for SPAIN that the gospel would go forth in the midst of rampant secularism and also for a missionary family that we know of. For the UKRAINE we prayed for CCX (their ifes group) and that uni students would continue to be trained to lead that country into truth. TUNISIA has only 200 or so Christians! We prayed that God would sustain them, that they'd be able to keep meeting with one another, and that God would give them boldness to reach out to family and friends. SAUDI ARABIA is a significant country in the Islamic world. We prayed that the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection would bring about massive change to the country.

giddy up!

We had REVIVE on the Poddy on Friday night. They were pretty cool guests and this was a pretty cool episode. Find out about it here... download it directly here... or subscribe with iTunes here...
Grace out.

Better Reception
I've been watching SBS on a below perfect reception. A friend helped me last night to set up the TV so it has the second best possible reception (being there is probably #1)

The Timing
I like the fact that the games are on at 11pm, 2am & 5am. Althought it means I have less sleep, it doesn't interfere with anything else! It would be difficult to get out of a scripture class to watch a football match... but when the only sacrifice is sleep I can go without for a few weeks.

African (& Asian?) Goalkeepers
For the last 4 World Cups I've noticed that goalkeepers from Africa (and maybe Asia?) more often than not wear long goal keeping pants. The South American and European keepers wear shorts.

This Post
I've watched at least one match each night. I wrote this in the early hours of Saturday morning... but fell asleep and didn't ever post it... so here it is... (posted 5:58am Sunday morning during half-timeUSA vs Italy game... 2nd half has just started and a 3 player has just been sent off... now USA 9 players vs Italy 10 score 1-1.)

First and foremost the Bible is about God. Last term we studied 1 Samuel at night church and one of the things we spoke about often in growth group was how the Bible is primarily about God and not us. It changes the way that you read the Bible. Rather than looking for how a particular passage applies to ME, I'm firstly reading it to understand more about God: who he is and what he has done. Of course the Bible applies to us in many ways but if we read the Bible without any regard for the Author then we become the centre of the universe rather than Jesus.

I'm speaking at Christian school chapel service tomorrow. It's a talk from our youth group camp last holidays entitled: IT'S NOT ABOUT ME - TURNING FROM THE IDOL OF SELF. I'm humbled to reflect over the material once again.

This is my next-door-neighbour's cat Lilly. I hate cats... but I'm in love with Lilly! I've decided that she is my Guardian Angel-cat. There will be times when I won't see her for weeks and then she will appear at a time when I'm pretty down. She calms me down and relaxes me.

Tonight at Growth group we prayed for group D at the world cup (we also prayed for Equador and some missho's from church). This included. Portugal, Mexico, Iran and Angola. It's great to watch the world cup and then reflect on something bigger than the football status of a nation: their spirituality. Pray for Portugal & Mexico in the grips of Catholicism that they'd understand that we can come to God based on the merits of Jesus and not our own. Pray for the struggling Christians in Muslim Iran that they'd persevere through their struggles. And thank God for the growth of Christianity in Angola even in the midst of dreadful war and suffering.

Aus v Jap
What a great game with Australia vs Japan. Australia deserved the victory with much of the posession and the most enterprising play. I did a lap of my parent's lounge room after each of Australia's goals as if I'd scored the goal! I think I even beat Aloisi in pulling my shirt over my head!! After all of Japan's criticism of Australia and their dirty tactics, Japan were pretty dodgy. Cahill's first goal was 'right place right time' (which happens often for Cahill. His second goal was a cracker... and Aloisi's goal was an uber-finish to the match.

The Balls
Every world cup (at least since '94) the commentators keep saying how the new ball design will be a nightmare for keepers... I've heard it 3o4 4 times already... but I think they're overstating their point.

USA v CZE
I've just watched this game. It's been really good. Quite fast and some great goals from the Czechs. They just won 3-0. The Czechs will be strong contenders... you heard it here first!

Aus players
I've played in the same teams as the following Socceroos: Mile Sterjovski, Brett Emerton & Luke Wilkshire. I've played against the following Socceross: Jason Cullina. Played at the same tournament but not against each other: Vince Grella. Has seen me play: Mark Schwarzer. Have met: Zeljko Kalac.

Haircuts
The 2002 World Cup was known for all the crazy haircuts. That doesn't seem to be the case this year... althought Japan are still pulling out the fancy styles!

Sold out
Yesterday (Sunday arvo) I took photos of the t-shirts in a number of shots and then went and showed them to Row who was having lunch with a friend. I didn't have time to go and buy on Sunday so went to go and buy one on Monday. But... they were sold out of the t-shirt I was going to get!! Stax of t-shirts and supporters gear sold out in a short period of time. So I ended up getting a cheap looking Australia jersey from Lowes for only $9.95.

Websites
I remember that during the 98 world cup there was 1 really good world cup site... but for FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 there are many. Here's some: smh, fifa, sbs.

***The title to this post means 'Play Beautiful' it's part of the NIKEFOOTBALL advertising campaign. Check out YouTube, iTunes or the nike website to watch some of the videos.

Today Rowena and I celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary. And we still haven't had a fight! We will be sharing a romantic dinner with Renae & Dan and Tim (Dan's brother) shortly.


***By the way... we have fought a 'couple' of times***

Last week On the Poddy had 631 downloads!!! Not all of them were through iTunes... but we peaked at number 6 on the iTunes charts. We are currently sitting just outside the top25.

Our new podcast CCECYOUTH TALKCAST, is currently sitting at number 14.

Make sure you go and check them out and subscribe in iTunes to help us stay in the top25.

Because soccer was called off on Saturday I had time to get my hair cut. Every time when it comes to haircuts I have second thoughts before I get the locks chopped off... "maybe it would be cool/fun/different to grow it right out!??". However, every time I do actually get it cut... I can't believe I didn't get it cut earlier! Short is best. (The lady called it a Buzz cut... I quite like that name!)

Soccer was called off on Saturday... very disappointing. However, for those who have been closely watching the career of Jon Brinton, this week he hasn't let us down. This man is amazing. Not only is he a whizz on the soccer field but he is a pretty mean basketballer. Jon was the star player in more2life's triumphant victory over the Weavers (who were in 1st place) on Thursday night basketball. The following shots were taken during his warm up. Jon was too fast for a camera phone to keep up with him during the game.

Jon - if you're reading - give us a wave!!
Any other EV Footy players or m2l bballers likewise leave ur comments.

Check this swimsuit website out. It's about time wholesome girls had some real options in what to wear beachside other than tracksuit pants!

But seriously... What do you think?? Is this a bit prudish? Or ought we encourage our Christian sisters to wear these dreadful looking costumes? What about a hajib?

About 4 years ago I started playing with the internet and thinking about how it could be used for our youth ministry. I wondered whether it was worth it, or whether it would be a waste of time and energy. We decided that we would see what we could do with the net and how it could help our ministry. Over that period of time things have slowly evolved and there seems to be some genuine momentum created by ccecyouth's online component.

There are two things that have heightened my thinking in these areas in recent days:
#1) A number of friends have been asking me about what how we've been using online technology in our youth ministry.
#2) On the Poddy with Dave & Dan (our podcast radio show thing) has sat in the top 10 on iTunes all week (peaking at #6) and that has enabled Rhett (our youth and young adults minister) and I to start thinking "what if?" and "where to next"...

My understanding of the nature of church is such that the internet can never replace the physical gathering of God's people. E-church may keep trying to pop-up in different corners of the web, but God's people physically gathering around His word in fellowship must not be replaced.

What we do with ccecyouth.com is create a false community of sorts. It's not real - maybe it's virtual reality - but it isn't real community in the physical gathering sense. BUT I think that what we are doing when we create our online false community is help our real physical offline community.

The following are the things that we do with ccecyouth.com. Some we've been gradually developing and others are recent editions.
Associated with a day:

Monday Morning - Photoblog - this is new... but the aim is to remind people about the Friday night that has just passed. It is uploaded to blogger and then atuomatically sent out to 300+ email address (including parents) with google groups.

Wednesday Morning - Breaking News - this is basically a 'what's coming up' thing. It has been brilliant for communcation, particularly with parents.

Thursday Morning - Upload ccecyouth talkcast - this is brand new. So we have no idea how many people will download the talks. But doing them as a podcast is a lot easier to manage than having to upload to html based webpage each week.

Friday Night (late) - Record & Upload On the Poddy - the Poddy has been great in helping to build identity within our youth group. On the poddy is theirs. They might be a guest on it. They might have their fanmail read out. It's even been a tool to promote our ccecyouth via our youth group kid's iPod. I know of a whole bunch of non-Christians who are now regular listeners which opens the door to evangelistic opportunities. Having it uploaded Friday night is important because teenagers have a 48 hour window where they will ordinarily be able to find time to download On the Poddy. We currently have over 500 downloads a week. This current week we should easily go beyond 700!

Sunday Arvo(ish) - Upload Bible reading notes - I'm not sure how many download these, but all of our juniors know that they are there. We hand their daily reading notes out each week at youth group. But the teenagers know that if they're away they can download the latest notes from there.

Other:

Forum - the forum has had some 15,000 posts!! But it goes through stages. There was a period of time when 50-odd people were on there regularly. But currently there are between 10 and 20 leaders on there at least once or twice a week.

Articles - this is irregular but there has been good feedback from some teenagers. This is an area we are looking to develop in the near future.

Photos - these are really popular. They are a visual reminder of the shared experiences that we share at ccecyouth.

Games, about us, leader info, parents section, leaders section, info about camps, missions, outline of who Jesus is.

I think that we are doing some good things. We are currently working out how we can streamline things better and there are some big plans not far around the corner. Hopefully we'll be able to take it up another notch! One of the best things about the false community that is created is that it excites them for when they will physically meet again. We see them on Friday and Sunday. It means on the other days during the week they can be reminded of ccecyouth, they can be reminded of our real community and they can be reminded of Jesus who died to make that gathering happen.

Conclusion: The internet is great for passing on information and it is great to create a false community in order to enhance our real physical community. The net can never take priority over the physical gathering of God's people week-by-week in our youth group and church.

Note: Last year we had some Christian year 12s on schoolies week who google'd Central Coast Youth Group, found us and came along during their holiday!

One of the most bizarre websites! Found it here. I wonder how many things it has programmed to be able to do??? I was able to get it to die... that was pretty funny. I tried to get it to show me its face but it just came and put its beak near the camera.

Just read this definition on John's blog. He got it from someone else.

The Emerging Church: This is a term that refers to churches attended exclusively by white people in their 20s and 30s who have at least one tattoo or body piercing. Their distinguishing characteristics are a refreshing, "up to date" interpretation of Christianity, and a reluctance to directly answer questions.