I didn't get to go to one80 tonight :-(

I had a nasty cold this week, It's possible that I got it from the Ekka, or one of the many people I came into contact with last week who had the same nasty cold. However it got in it's managed to be a bit of a pain. Ended up staying home from church both services last week and lying around in my bed blowing my nose every few minutes instead, which really doesn't compare very well to going to church, which I really enjoy. Ended up having the day off on monday too, which was spent in a very similar fashion to sunday except for the arrival of my new washing machine. And although buying something new and big is usually fun, all a washing machine does is wash your clothes... And they put the safety mechanisms in so it stops doing it's thing when you lift the lid. So after putting a load of washing on and watching the outside of my new washing machine do nothing at all except make washing machine sounds I left it and went back to bed.

By today (Friday 25th) I thought I was pretty much better and didn't bother taking it easy at work, and ran around a bit, did some skipping and all the stuff you do playing with primary school kids. A few hours later with a pounding headache and really tired I decided I wasn't as much better as I had previously thought. Hence sitting around at home resting instead of having fun at one80... :-( Gosh! <Spoken with Napolean Dynamite emphasis>

Sister's getting married in about a week! Very exciting! Buck's party tomorrow night on the coast, should be good. Laser skirmish and Hog's Breath for dinner ... mmm, steak.

Read a book with a cool idea earlier this week. Well, re-reading a book with an idea that I thought was cool last time I read it.

Talks about knowing Satan's points of attack and having a plan of defence. First point is basically knowing your weaknesses, knowing where you tend to get tempted and give in the most. If you think and pray about it there's usually a few areas that spring to mind that you know you struggle with.

The second point is having a plan of defence... There's a few ideas on this, one is to have a cool verse that's either applicable to your particular struggle, or one that's just encouraging to you. Another one is having one or a few people in your mind that you want to pray for. When you start getting tempted, start praying for those people. The book suggested people you'd like to see getting to know Jesus, which is a good idea. Also you could pray for someone who may be going through a tough time, or sick or something like that.

You could even combine the two ideas. It's described in the book like Satan coming to tempt you, so you give him a punch below the belt, cos he doesn't really like us praying, or focusing on God's word. On a more psychological level, it also shifts your mind off whatever it is you're being tempted about and onto something, and someone else. And caring about God and others is more important than anything else...

Mark 12:28-31
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him,
"Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
"The most important one," answered Jesus, " is this:
'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
There is no commandment greater than these."