It is the 3rd of May, and I missed the opportunity of posting something yesterday (the only day of the month which is prime and even). Nevertheless, today is also a prime number day, and I shall post something before the spiders decide to move from my house to my blog and fill this place with spider webs…

First I would like to apologise for the lack of posts. And now I would like to inform you all that I moved! I really don’t like moving houses, but hey, now I live in Coogee, 3 blocks from the beach, and the photo above I took this morning while reading my Bible and having breakfast (sitting on the sand, at the beach). Isn’t it awesome?

The not-so-awesome part of all the moving thing is that I have so many things yet to be organised and cleaned. I am also trying to stop doing nothing while I should actually be studying maths, otherwise I will fail again this semester, and this is not something I desire. In addition, I am working on an iPhone (and Android, of course) app that will soon (at some point between today and next decade) be announced and fill you all with wonder and excitement. But that is all I can say about the app for now.

This means that if I fail to post on prime number days, please don’t eat me alive for at least two reasons: 1) I think I don’t taste good; 2) I have good reasons for it… 3) if you find a third one, write it on the comments!

But to not post something useless, I will teach you two important lessons, one regarding maths, and another one regarding life. Let’s start with the most important one (or not):

Did you know that any integer greater than 1 can be written as a factorization of prime numbers? Not only this, each number can be written as a unique product of prime numbers (not considering the order of the factors)! For example, 25 = 5 x 5; 192 = 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 3; and 100 = 2 x 2 x 5 x 5. Isn’t it awesome? This is called the Unique-Prime-Factorization Theorem, and it is the Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic. See, now you know…

The second (and probably more relevant lesson): If you ever have a problem with someone, please choose one of two options (or both): 1) talk to a good friend about it just to get the problem out of your mind and then pray for the person and forgive him/her; 2) or if it is something you should do something about, talk directly to the person you have a problem with (after praying and/or talking to a good friend might help), and solve the problem. Do NOT talk to other people about it in an useless attempt of fixing the problem. This is not only idiotic and foolish (ie. totally unwise), but it will make everything worse. I am not very old, but I can tell you this advice is true and good by (lots of) experience (and the Bible says so; it must be true).

That is it for today… I love random posts!
Cadu

5/5/09 – Redfern

Isaiah 40

“All people are like grass, and all human faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the LORD blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of MY GOD endures forever.”
- Isaiah 40:6b-8

“WHO can fathom the Spirit of the LORD (YHWH),
or instruct the LORD as his counselor?
WHOM did the LORD consult to enlightem him,
and who taught him the right way?
WHO was it that taught him knowledge,
or showed him the path of understanding?”
- Isaiah 40:25

“‘To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?’ says the HOLY ONE.”
- Isaiah 40:25

“He, the LORD, gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
[...] those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary;
they will walk and not be faint.”
- Isaiah 40:29,31

WHO can compare himself to God?
Nothing in the universe is comparable to God.
Idols are made of wood, metal, plastic…
they have eyes but don’t see,
they have ears but don’t hear,
they have hands but can’t move.
Not even flies are scared of them;
Flies come and sh*t on their faces,
but the idols can’t even clean themselves.
They are useless like a fly’s sh*t.
But GOD, THE LORD OF HOSTS, created the flies.
And with His word He can kill them.
The LORD is Almighty, Holy and Glorious.
His word will remain forever.
His enemies fear Him,
they run away like a scared rabbit.
Before the LORD they can’t do anything other than surrender,
for the LORD of HOSTS is powerful.
People are like ants to Him,
He can kill them with His pinky finger.
One little breath and they fly away like sand in face of a hurricane.
Compared to the LORD, they are NOTHING.
He is GOD. He is what He is.
He is because He is.
He is Almighty God.
He is the alpha and the omega;
Everlasting, Beginning and End.
Creator of the Universe, King of Kings,
Lord of Lords, Perfect and Eternal.
He is the Righteous Judge,
the LORD of HOSTS,
the ONE that never lies and keeps all his promises.
He is also MY GOD.
He came to Earth, became an ant like me,
layed down His life for me and died on the cross.
His death was not an accident, He died for me.
That cross was mine, the punishment for my sin, but He took it!
He died and rose again.
He is victorious over death!
And all His power is now mine, through His Son Jesus Christ!
Even though He is so HUGE and powerful, He calls me “son”.
And I call Him “Daddy”.
And if anyone wants to harm me, I can call my Dad.
He is scared of no one.
I am victorious, because of Him.
And because of Him, I fear nothing.
Daddy, all I am is yours,
every moment of my life is an offering to YOU.
Please take it and use me as it pleases you.
You are mine, and I am yours.
And I love you…
even when I don’t understand anything.
Even when it looks like the world is falling apart, I trust in you completely.
I just love you forever.

Amen.

Cadu

Today I am reviewing the series called “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” written by Jeff Kinney. So far it consists of 4 books, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid“, “Diary of Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules“, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw” and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days“. Apparently there will be only five books, with the last one coming out this year.

The books all look like a child’s diary, and have drawings and hand written stories relating the things that happen in the life of Greg Heffley, a kid that has just started Middle School (Junior High School). Although he is a fictional character, I think his stories reflect how many kids of his age see the world around them.

Greg lives with his two brothers, one older and one younger, and his mum and dad. His parents apparently don’t really understand him and don’t know how to show love to him, and he strives to be popular and look cool. In fact, according to him, nobody really understands him, and most of the time he is the best person he knows. Except for when things don’t work as he expected, and that happens very often.

Despite the lack of accurate dates in the stories (he only writes the day of the week, ie. Monday), I really love the way the stories are written. Some stories are incredibly funny, and all the books are interesting and can entertain me for hours. While it is written for kids, many adults will love them (specially the ones who work with kids…).

Bringing the books to reality, there are many kids like Greg, who don’t get real assurance from their families and strive to be popular and maintain a status of cool. While reading the book sometimes I feel sad for Greg, even though he doesn’t exist. As Children’s ministers we should be looking for these kids in our Church services and making sure we do everything in our reach to impact their lives. We can be the ones who will make these kids write a possible “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: A God Encounter” book to complete the series…

I really think you should read all the books! They are awesome!! The first three books are based on an online journal that you can find at Fun Brain. You can also buy the books from Amazon or your favourite book shop.

There is also a movie already available in some countries (including the USA) based on the first book of the series. I haven’t watched it yet, but if it is like the book, it is probably awesome!

See you again tomorrow, the 3rd!
Cadu

At the end of last year I decided to set up some goals for 2010 and the years to follow (2011 and 2012 perhaps). One of the goals was to blog more, and so far I am achieving it. Another one was to learn how to skate, and I also achieved it! There are many goals, some more important, some less important, but all of them are good and fun. The one I am really looking forward to achieving is “Learn how to fly”.

I don’t know exactly why I want to learn how to fly, but airplanes have always fascinated me… the sad part is that it is very expensive to get a license, and after I have the license, when will I fly? I don’t even have an airplane! I could hire one sometimes, but… for what? Sometimes I think I would like to be a commercial pilot, but I am almost finishing my Computer Science degree, and I am a software engineer! Ah… too many dreams, too many questions… I am a bit crazy, yes.

Nevertheless, some time this year I will have a Trial Introductory Flight (probably on a Cessna 152) to see how it feels like… apparently they let you guide the aircraft for a while, which is exciting and scary! What will happen after that? I don’t know…

(And that is only one of the goals in my list… lol)

See you again on the 29th!
Cadu

I decided to start a new series (actually two series): “10 things I love about me” and “10 things I hate about me”. I am working on both lists, and I should start posting soon. I will post one item at a time, and probably one love item and one hate item per day (prime number day, don’t forget!).

When I decided to write those series I was hoping to evaluate my life and get better by the end of it… let’s see how it goes. I also plan to write some fun posts about some of the items… you will see!

Now, just some unrelated riddles that my friends from twitter couldn’t find the answer (even though Google knows them very well):

- When do giraffes have 8 feet? A: “When there are two of them.”

- What is the shortest mathematicians joke? A: “Let epsilon be smaller than zero.”

See you again on the 23rd!
Cadu

I have many reasons to be excited and thankful to God!

First: I am going to the USA in 12 days! I am going to spend some time around LA and San Francisco, go to Disneyland and to Las Vegas to go to NAPKIN CONFERENCE! How cool is that?!

Second: I am going to Brazil for a week to spend some time with my family and a few friends! It will be awesome… I love my Country and I am happy to spend some time over there!

Third: I finally got my Australian Driver License last Friday! I transferred my Brazilian license and after an annoying test I got an unrestricted Australian license (no need for P1, P2 or similar annoying thing).

Last one (because I need to sleep): tonight we had an AWESOME kids service and I know tomorrow will be just the same… can’t wait to be a blessing to more children and families! And that is why I need to stop writing now… I need to go to bed…

Be blessed and see you in Vegas! (or at Church tomorrow, if you live in Sydney…)
Cadu

A number of weeks ago there was a leadership event for all the volunteers at our Church, and I served in the kids program. It was a Thursday evening, and not many kids came to the program. I ended up hanging out with a kid I didn’t know before… he likes soccer and I am from Brazil, we played for a while, talked for a bit and at some point of the program we prayed for each other. That was basically it. I serve at Voltage (for kids on Year 5 and 6 at school), and he is on Year 4, and that is the reason why I didn’t know him before.

A few weeks later I saw him at Church with his family and stopped to say hi. It turned out his mum already knew me as “the soccer player”, and she said that he talked about me for ages since that evening when we met.

I have to say I was very surprised that his mum heard about me, and that he talked about me for a while, since we hung out for only one evening, a couple of hours… it made me think about the impact we can have in a child’s life if we stop for just some moments and show interest in their lives.

If you stop to do the maths, if a child comes to church every week, he or she will spend about 110 hours at church in a whole year. That is 1.25% of the year, and it is almost 7 times less than the time this child will spend eating (about 8.5% of the year) and almost the same time this child will spend in the toilet (about 1.5% of the year)…

One of the things that God is teaching me this year is the art of being available so He can use me to make a difference in a child’s life. When I am serving in the kids program, if there is at least one child in the room, there I am, talking to them. The last thing you will see me doing during the kids program is hanging out with other leaders or doing something by myself.

We don’t have much time, but we can make the most out of the time we have. If we let God use us during those couple of hours that we have every weekend, we can be powerful instruments in His hands to make a huge difference in the lives of the children that come to our kids program. It is a simple choice that can change their lives forever!

Cadu

As someone that likes to listen to songs like “Year 3000“, national anthems of different countries (especially Brazil) and other songs I will not tell you so I don’t look too weird, I am not the best person to suggest music to normal people. But it is Christmas, and I would like to tell you about two Christmas albums that I really like: Have a Fancy Yancy Christmas and A pureNRG Christmas.

Have a Fancy Yancy Christmas

Yancy is a signer/songwriter and worship leader deeply involved in kids worship. I met her and listened to her songs for the first time at Kidshaper 09 in Melbourne, and really liked them!

Have a Fancy Yancy Christmas is Yancy’s new album, and it is all about Christmas! And if you are thinking that this is just another Christmas album, you are wrong! It doesn’t only include songs that everybody knows like “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “The First Noel”, but also exclusive songs written by her: “Merry Christmas, Happy Christmas” and “Christmastime”.

While I like the whole album, my favourites are “Christmastime”, “The Greatest Gift” and “O Come All Ye Faithful”. “Christmastime” is not only a Christmas song, but a powerful worship song that I can listen to over and over again…

You can buy Have a Fancy Yancy Christmas on Amazon, yancynotnancy.com or iTunes.

A pureNRG Christmas

pureNRG is an energetic band made up of three teenagers that are not only cool, but love Jesus for real! They were interviewed in the July/August issue of K! Magazine, and I highly recommend reading that interview.

A pureNRG Christmas is another Christmas album I love! Their album doesn’t include any original songs, but their versions of the well-known Christmas songs are awesome and full of NRG (energy)! I love listening to them, even when Christmas is far far away. “The 12 Days Of Christmas” is the first song my alarm plays in the morning to wake me up, and not only because it is loud, but also because it puts myself in a good mood…

Again, I like the whole album, and every day I have a different favourite song… today it would be “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and “Jingle Bell Rock”, but it changes according to my mood and the phases of the Moon…

You can buy A pureNRG Christmas on their website: http://purenrgonline.com/.

Cadu

The creator of the only blog to be read in the Moon, in the ISS and on Mars (thethursdayblog.com), Funny Man Dan, and more recently Funny Daddy Dan, wrote a great post on Kids Ministry and I am posting it here.

Performance skills – 101 Sharpening your skills to use in every aspect of your program.

One of my greatest frustrations is that only in the church world do people think that performing, preaching and mc’ing are a natural gift. This belief means that (1) those who believe that they don’t have this gift are excused from any of the aforementioned tasks and (2) those with the gifts just have to keep performing and they will get better and better.

This concept is absolutely ludicrous. It is the same as a man saying “I have always naturally been good with my hands, I am going to start practicing operating on people and I am sure I will get better”. Even in the world of fictional TV shows this would be too far of a stretch. Doogie Howser MD was a wizz kid and a doctor by 16 but he still did all of the study and training?

A football team doesn’t just play games to get better but they run specific drills to improve specific skills that will help them with the game. This is what I believe we need to start doing.

In this episode we are going to look at one skill that is crucial in on-stage speaking. In fact if I could only tell you one thing that most help you it would be this:

Truth by Vibration!

The year was 2002 and I was in a theatre class. I was performing a piece from the “Dead Poets Society” with a girl in my class, and I had to confess my love for her. We got to the most crucial part where I said with all my acting skill – “I love you”

“CUT”

The teacher stopped me and told me he didn’t believe me and to try again.

“I love you”

“CUT”

The teacher tried to help. He told me to just say the line. I said with no effort “I love you” and he said “PERFECT – that is it” and told me to do it in the scene. I got to the part again, I said my perfect line and he said “CUT”

Over the next 30 mins it was really painful. He got me to stop and start 20 times speaking the line and getting it perfect, then performing it and failing. After the 30 mins I still didn’t get it. I had no idea what he was saying because to me they sounded exactly the same. It wasn’t until a few months later I found out a secret that has changed the way I have performed ever since.

I went to a voice training class and the speech specialist said during a routine exercise “Truth is communicated on Vibration”.

Every time you speak, sing or make a noise a vibration is made in your body. We generally talk with a bit of chest vibration and a bit of throat vibration but when we get on stage for some strange reason most people’s voice gets a little bit higher and it goes straight to the throat. This is the easiest way to tell the difference from a preacher that has been preaching for years and a rookie. The rookie’s voice is always a little bit higher than they normally speak.

When I perform my voice goes high, goes low, goes all over the place for the enjoyment of the crowd, but whenever I want to communicate a message I make sure my chest vibrates.

Professional performers are trained to speak on vibration (that meaning in the chest) because it sounds more confident, it is more relaxing, and you can speak for as long as you want and your throat will not tire. The other main reason is that if you don’t speak on vibration people will not believe you.

So give it some practice. It is a learnt skill that takes time. It is not speaking in a deep voice but it has certain feel that has to be learnt. The best way is to practice your message with your hand on your chest and focus on getting the vibrations lower.

If you look at all the great preachers, performers and mc’s, you will notice that they speak very similarly to when they are off-stage. They may not realise they are speaking on vibration but have just developed that over the years. If you adopt this specific training you will find that you advance a lot quicker than those who have gone before you.

Have Fun

Dan.

Last week I was busy studying for three maths final exams that I had at uni. Because the maths courses I took were really hard, I knew I had to study for them during the semester and not only a few days before the exam, but I didn’t… The result? I failed one of the tests. I know, it is terrible… and I could try to find many excuses to justify my failure, but I won’t… I decided I want to finally learn something from it.

The interesthing thing about it is that I knew I had to prepare earlier. Not only because they were hard, but also because the last time I studied maths was about 4 years ago in Brazil. In fact, I couldn’t understand the first 2 weeks of lectures, and I only started to understand some of the stuff they were teaching in the middle of the semester… I knew 3 final exams were coming, and that they would be really hard, but for some reason I still didn’t preapare for them very well…

Well, it is obvious that we need to prepare for the things that we know are coming, and there is no need for me to write about it. But what about the things that we don’t really know about our future? Can we prepared for them? Or, should prepare for them?

Hebrews 11:1 says “NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].” (AMP)

Many times we want things to happen in our lives or ministries, we pray for them, we say we believe they will happen… but if we really have faith, if we are really convicted of their reality (even though they are not here yet), shouldn’t we get ready for them?

For example, if I want my ministry to grow, shouldn’t I get ready for it to happen? Or if I want to be a missionary in China, am I learning about their culture and language? The big question here is: if God gives me what I am asking for right now, am I ready for it? If the answer is no, then it is time to get prepared!