My Christian Walks

Unlike most songs of 2012 this is a motivational song not about relationships or breakups. It is about working hard doing your best. It tells us that if we work hard at what we want we will get to it. This isn't the full truth though. We can't achieve anything at the highest level without God. If I was to get really religious on this we could say that the "Hall of fame" is the halls of the courts of God. That we have to work hard to be the best Christians we can be. Having a living relationship with God is not easy. You will be put down and bullied about it either now or later in life. We need to dedicated to our relationship with God to even reach the "Hall of fame". "The world is gonna know your name". God should be our world. We need to work hard at our relationship and dedicate ourself to God and he will know our name for the good reasons and not our bad.

This will be my last post of 2012. What an amazing year it has been. I have been through a lot this year. Relationships were built and destroyed. I have met some people I have gotten really close to and will be forever close to. My faith has only grown. After going to leaders camp at Sonshine Ranch I have become serious about my faith. It take work to keep my friendship with Jesus up to scratch. Its still not perfect and it never will be but its a work in progress. There has been things I wish I could go back and change, redo and stop, but thats not going to happen. I have to work with what I've got and trust in the lord with all my heart. This blog has kept me going, knowing that people are reading, relating and replying to what I have been through. I am however running out of ideas. If there is anything you would like to see written about PLEASE tell me. I have a few 'Spiritual side of music' pieces written and will publish those over the christmas holidays. T...

2012 is almost over and I got back from Hoofin it yesterday.  A large topic at camp was friendship vs relationship.  Hans taught a lot on why we should have friendships that become relationships after time.  Hoofin it was amazing. I got to know a whole bunch of people over the 4 days and friendships with people grew. It was an amazing time of fellowship with people and God. Its an experience that cant be described by words and has to be experienced to believe.  It was an amazing way of ending the year of 2012.

I haven't been posting anything for a while and I feel bad about it but thanks to Rosie i'm back and will start trying to do at least one a week. On my time off I have spent allot of time talking with people and explaining my childhood to them. Basically how I turned out who I am today. I mentioned the fact that I was a very quiet kid who would just sit around and listen to people. That is why I can do what I am doing now and feel good about it.  Because I was silent I learnt quite allot about how people work, talk, relate and handle issues. This has helped me in my more recent years.  God made us with 2 ears, 2 eyes and 2 nostrils but only 1 mouth. Dont you think he was trying to get a message across. If you havent picked it up yet, its that we need to use our other senses more than we use our mouth. We need to just sit there and listen to people and make a mental note of whats going on.    The same principle ca...

Jordan Sparks: One step at a time As with most songs of the modern era this song is about problems faced and solved. We all rush through things and religion isn't an exception. We all want to get as close to god as we can as quick as we can and normally it comes back to bite us. We try to go for a walk with God without a plan. One of the biggest problems is trying accepting God into our hearts before we are ready. We want what others have without knowing what the consequences could be. Your walk with God is not something that should be rushed we need to take it one step at a time. Once you do start walking with God doors will close on you and you will trip over. Your walk with God is not a easy path. Just like starting our relationship with God the walk is one we need to take slow and steady. To fast and we miss things. Take it at your own pace not the worlds.

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a]) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” This story in the bible is one of the many times that Jesus refers to food and drink in the bible. The reason for this is that is was easy to relate to for the people of the time. Jesus often even referred to himself as bread. We need food to physically survive. It's fuels our system an keeps it going. As does the bible for our spirit. The bible is food for our soul. Consider it like a cookbook. It tells us what ingredients we need. It also gives us reviews and ways to change our recipe to work better. Not only do we need a recipe but we need the right ingredients. We need to be surrounded by people who Jesus and we need to go to church to get new recipe...

I have just got back from camp and I am so tired. So I am going to try something different. Gesine showed us this song at youth a while ago. So i'm simply going to post the lyrics and video. Reflect on it and let me know what you think. If you have prayer requests or just want to ask me something, you can email me at 'thombilton@me.com' or Text me '021 2383 891' Shadows fill an empty heart As love is fading From all the things that we are And are not saying Can we see beyond the scars And make it to the dawn Change the colors of the sky And open up to The ways you made me feel alive The ways I loved you For all the things that never died To make it through the night Love will find you What About Now What about today What if you're making me All that I was meant to be What if our love never went away What if it's lost behind Words we could never find Baby before its too late What About Now The sun is breaking in your eyes To start a new day This broken he...

P!ink: Perfect  In the song perfect P!nk is singing about the troubles we go through with self worth. How we put ourself down by the things we do and say to or about ourself.  In the chorus however she sings about how to some people we are perfect.  This is so true. We tell ourself that we don't fit into the worlds mould and that makes us bad. But even if we don't think it we are perfect to God. God made us the way we are now. He made us who we are. We are a perfect image of God. Because we continue to believe in the fact that we are like God we will be bullied and put down. It's statins way of having his say. He will do anything to stop us believing in ourselves.  In the bridge pink sings about how we try so hard to fit the perfect model of humanity but not God. She also sings about the fact that we try to find people who will judge. She wonders why we look for those who will attack us and put us down. We as humans look for recognition for ...

This may sound like a "Spiritual side of music" but its not. Just wanting to clear that up. With the end of the year sneaking up on us we all need to make decisions. What to do after school, should I get a job. You might even question the reason you are on earth. Be an intern or a nanny. We all have a reason why we are on earth. We just might not know what it is yet. Many people give up and look at the ground when they have problems finding their reason to be on earth. They even give up on it. Even though we feel as if we dont have enough energy to look look around us, that what we need to do. We need to look around and see what opportunities are around us. Looking around for an opportunity is the easy part. Its opening the door thats the hard part. We may stand at that door for days on end. Not even bothering to knock. As we do this we continue to look around and have second thoughts about our decision to stand on that door step. There however is someone standing...

When Guy Sebastian sings These battle scars, don't look like they're fading Don't look like they're ever going away They ain't never gonna change He is singing about a relationship gone wrong. That the effects of the relationship wont go away. These same lyrics can be taken in a christian aspect to.  When God puts us through times of struggle and hardship he is doing it to change us, to make us who he want's us to be. The outcomes of these battles with ourselves, our friends and our family are our "Battle Scars." They should have a lasting effect on us, make us who we are today by not fading and never going away.  One God has made us who he want's us to be he wont change us. He wont let the evidence of a hard fought relationship with him go away.  Battle Scars

I'm sure most of you have cell phones. You know its that small piece of plastic that you have in your hands and don't let anyone else see. What do you use your phone for, texting your BF, checking twitter or Facebook or good old fashion calls. We use our phones to communicate with the people we care about. We communicate so well with friends but what about God. Is he your number 1 on speed dial. The other half of your bestmate plan. AAAGod in your contacts. I'm gonna have a guess and say no. In times of trouble and times of praise God should be the one you go to. It doesn't cost you credit or texts. He is your 0800 number in the sky. If you don't know how to pray or who to pray to, Jesus gave us a good example in Matthew 6: 9-13 9  Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgi...

With the opening of the new Ranch buildings I've been thinking. What is Sonshine Ranch to me?? I started going to Sonshine Ranch 3 years ago but didn't get really involved till mid 2011. I guess that I loved the surrounding but it had no real spiritual meaning. More recently however it has become a major part of who I am. I have said many times that "if it wasn't for Sonshine Ranch I dont know where I would be." That is so true. Its a place where I can feel at home. Its a place where no matter what I have been through I can go there and be accepted. As some of you know I dont really get along with the people at my school very much. So going out to The Ranch every Friday is like an R and R session for me. It gives me time to relax and think about everything and anything. I guess what helps me is riding, it makes me feel so free. Knowing that I can go anywhere and do anything on horse back makes me smile. Ranch camps are some of the best times of my year. It ...

The story behind this post. We all find inspiration do do something. I tend to find my inspirations in music. A lot of my posts have Youtube clips to the music that inspires me to write. This is inspired by Hannah Montana. I know right, what is a 14 year old Guy doing listening to Hannah Montana. Her music has some good meanings both in this world and if though about religious. We all take on hard times, times that will push us to our max, to our breaking point. We cant go through these ourselves. We need a safe place, a place of refuge. A place no matter what we have done and how much we have changed will accept us. For me its Sonshine Ranch. I all ways feel safe, secure when i'm there. Surrounded by people who love me for who I am.  Your safe place might not be physical. It could be a mental place. I feel safe when I block out the world with music. It could be a person. I have a select few people who I can go to and talk to.  The important...

How public are you? Will you speak up when something is wrong, strange, bad. How about public speaking. What about sharing our faith with non Christians. That can be one of the hardest thing we can do. It may be because we dont want to be judged or mocked. It could destroy your reputation.  Its a comine sight at school to hear people saying that God has been a big influence in their life's. But its not often that I see the same person acting like God has impacted them. It could be that they are scared of the possibilites or they just want to fit in. 32  “Whoever acknowledges me before others,  I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.   33  But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.  This verse can be  scary  for some but not being accepted by others is worse to some than not being acknowledged by God.

I am sure we have all faced them. They are the things that cause sleepless nights, that cause you not to want to leave your room. These are the moments we all try and stay away from, the moments nobody wants to experience. These moments in life however are the moments that make you who you are. They are put into your life to shape your attitude, your beliefs, your appearance. They are also to test your faith. If you were to face the hardest time in your life tomorrow, how much would you rely on God. These challenges and tough times test how much you rely on God. We find it hard to do so however. We rely on our human instinct to get us to the other side. We should however turn it all over to God for he is the only one who can get us though it. We might not see the point of what God is doing or why he is doing it but we can asume that it is either 1 of 2 options. He is either trying to teach us a lesson or he is making us stronger. So pray about ...

You were born and raised by a family and the first 10 years were out of your control, but now you are a teen. You have struggled and fought with your family. Met people who will change your life and people who you wished you never knew. Done things you are happy you did and done things that you wished you hadn't.  That was the first 10 Years of your life. But now the job of author has been passed onto you. Its your book now. Not your Mum or Dads. The rest of the book is up to you. Sure you will still make mistakes but you will also learn from them and other mistakes. Sam Levenson "You must  learn  from the  mistakes  of  others . You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself ." You will get in relationship you wished you hadn't and you could quite possibly forget all about God because of it.  But just remember. Even through the tough times and the parts of your life I like to call writers blocks God is...

What influence you. What makes you change who you are for the good and bad. Who makes decisions for you. Is it yourself, your friends, that guy from TV or the model on the runway. We all influenced by someone and its usually someone we aspire to be. This can be a good thing because it sets goals for us.  But influences are not always a good thing. We could be influenced by someone who is Non-Christian and make us drop our faith. We might aspire to be the wrong type of person. We could be pressured into doing something we know is morally wrong. You have the power to influence others. Like a light on a lamp stand. You push away the darkness and make an influence on someones life. When you go to camp as a leader and you guide someone to Jesus. How does it make you feel. Happy and excited i'm guessing. This is because we have made a positive influence on someones life. From there on out we rely on God to keep the influence a...

I often find myself escaping into music when times get tough. The music seems to get me out of everything and let me relax. I find that it allows me to see the big picture. It allows me to find Christ in the situation.  We all find christ in different ways. Some may be more traditional like reading your Bible or praying. Some may be way out there like skydiving. Some may be simple like in silence. All of these are ways of us finding God in any situation.  We need God in every situation.  " And if we win, we praise Him. And if we lose, we praise Him. Either way we honor Him with our actions and our attitudes."Grant Taylor (Facing the Giants)  And we praise him in every situation. We will come up against situations all through life where we wonder WHERE IS GOD IN ALL OF THIS. God is with us in all of these moments, we might not know it but he is there "Next to me:" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nwdjQmc_N8&list=ALYL4kY05133qg7vquAybnLmqfxRG-d...

We all judge people because we are all human beings. The world we live in and the power of the devil has made us a judgmental race. How we judge someone is more of a issue than if we judge. Do we do it on the basis of whats on the outside or whats on the in. We are all subject to judgement and 9 times out of 10 it has been negative. How many times have you judged someone and the results were in their favor. Our whole world is based around judgement, we even make TV programs out of it. God however judges us on the right stuff, the stuff that counts, the stuff on the inside. He dosent cair how we look on the out its the look of the stuff on the in that counts to him.  God will also judge us in heaven. We will have to make a recount of all the sin we have done. Just remember keep the inside clean and it will reflect on whats on the out.

I'm sure that we have all struggled with self acceptance. Don't worry. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. There are many people just like you, people who struggle with being them self.  Media these days shows us what is expected of us. It might be the skinny girl on the front of the fashion mag or that muscular guy on the workout mag. They call us non normal if we dont look like this person, if we dont act like these people. But dont try and be someone you are not.  We all ways think that there is someone who looks beter than us, acts cooler than us, has nicer things than us. We wish we could be that person. Psalm 139:14 say's " I praise you  because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." How often is it that we do however praise God because of how we look. We complain more about what we wished we looked like not how we look. We should however praise him because we are a gem in Gods eyes. We were planed out since creation and are made unique. There is nobody else in the wh...

What would you change to fit in. Your hair, clothes, attitude. You shouldn't have to change anything. People should accept you for who you are not who people want you to be. Sure you might like what someone is waring and you might add that outfit to your wardrobe, but you shouldn't change your whole wardrobe to gain acceptance. If someone makes you change who you are then you should seriously consider your relationship with that person. God however accepts you for who you and because thats the way he made you. God is not racist like that guy from school. To him what you own is no concern. God will accept you for who you are. Not for the person you are trying to be. 

Have you ever had a friend that you called you bestie and you told them everything. Your biggest secret is now something that the person can use against you. You have trusted them with something important to you, did this friend show the same trust to you. We put our trust in a seatbelt that it will protect us if we crash. We put our trust in the teacher that they are teaching the right stuff. But how often is it that we trust in the lord. Is it because we cant see him or touch him. Maybe because we cant hear him speak the way we want him to. If we cant trust him with that little thing, how can we trust him with the big thing. We cant admit to him the wrong that we have done, we dont want him knowing what he already knows. Trust can take a life time to build up but only seconds to break down and another life time to rebuild. Have you broken someones trust that you spent a life time to create.

You know when you need help in maths you go to your textbook. Well where do we go when we need help with our faith. Do we go to friends maybe family. How often is it that we go straight to our bible. And when we do how often is it that we put ALL our trust in it. We put all our trust in our maths book. But the Bible is like any other textbook, it doesn't have the answers in the back. We actually have to look for them. We have to actually work for the answers. We are a in the moment world who wants answers now. But thats not how God works. He is a teacher, he is the best teacher, but much like the bible he has all the answers but we have to work for it.

We all struggle with loss. Some may say that we need to move on from what we lost. That we simply need to get over it. That might be easy if you lose a toy or a photo. But what about a life. And what if that life was your best friend. What if you had known that person for your whole Life. We cant simply get over it. Its not something we just blow off and walk away from. Its a matter that stays with us for our whole life. We live in a broken world, a world that is falling around us every day. An earthquake here a flash flood here. What can we do about it. What can fix the problem. Sure we can donate to some charity that is set up to help. But i'm not talking about that kind of help. Spiritual help is one of the greatest kinds of help we can give. When we pray to God about our losses he and only he has the power to take the burden off our hearts. R.I.P Courtney. 

Have you ever lost a friend you once called your best friend? This is probably because of lack of communication. We get side tracked by other people, other events. This can change us for the worst. We loose a good influence, we get involved with the things we shouldn't have. But we also have the chance to make  a good influence on other people. We could change someones life for the good. When we loose communication with Jesus we change. We stop reading our bible, we stop doing our quiet time and even stop talking with our Christian friends.  When people you know go through this try to help without " forcing religion into their life's." I know you will find it hard but eventually things will pay off. People are more likely to   re-connect with Jesus when you do so. It might take some time but it will pay off.

How often is it that you think about the word change. Once, maybe twice a week and thats probably about weather you should change what you are wearing. I'm not talking about that kind of change. I'm talking about the serious change. Drastic changes in life's and beliefs. People I mentioned or am soon to mention in the remainder of my testimony, have changed in the last weeks. This person who once loved the Lord with everything they had. Times change. With the influence of the norm every thing can change. My life has changed since I started doing this. Stated sharing my thoughts, my stories all for the best. I make changes in peoples life's just as people have made changes in my life. But when people leave places of support, love and friends, things can change for the worst.  If you think times are changing in your life. Maybe you are slipping away from God or have gotten into a bad relationship find someone, someone you can trust. Talk with some...

Sorry about not doing this in a while. Life has been really busy.  I have just gotten back from camp.. I learnt so much. I really enjoy being around other Christians that have been through things like I have.  One of the Word 4 U Todays on camp was " People may not remember exactly what you did or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel."  How often it it that we remember what our mum made us for dinner or acknowledge them for dropping us of at the bus stop... I bet however that every time they do this you have a little feeling in yourself that little birst of happiness. We can do this so often. Even this second someone is doing something for you without you even knowing...  I came home from camp today and in the car had a rage and burst into tears over something so small that I shouldn't have even noticed it. I said "I tell everyone that I live in a family that is so nice, they love me and would ...

Have you ever asked the question "where is God when I need him the most." I know I have many times. Exams are coming up and they can be scary  They will challenge you and your trust. Even God will care about you and your stress. This can be the most common reason that people can leave their faith. They become stressed and angry that God is not taking it away. He in fact is, you just pick back up the burden and take it back again. Don't do this for it shal not get you anywhere. Leave all your struggles with the lord. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLbnS8nLcx8

I have come to realize something. Children from christian homes are  so protected that they become the most touchable. Even those who have grown up going to church are very touchable. They are the first so say yes to things they should say no to. Life is so confusing, we will always however have God to rely on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RjNcOqwpRk

"It takes a boy to laugh at someone who falls over... But it takes a man to fall over and get back up again." This quote will come up repeatedly in your walk with God, it has come up multiple times in the last week. Quite literally in fact. Are you the boy or the man in this quote. Who do you relate to. You will take some hits and falls in your walk and your life. But just remember to GET BACK UP.  "No matter what people say, No matter what comes my way. If I fall to the ground i'm gonna get down get up, I get down get up." Rapture Ruckus "No Matter What" Testimony PT. 2 I moved school at year 4 to a new local school in my area. Even though it was a new start for me I still didn’t manage to find anyone. I would sit in with groups at lunch but when it was time to play I chose not to play as it was normally soccer. I felt alone and on the odd occasion I would cry. I started to walk and talk with the teachers at lunch but this just felt awkwar...

Are you stuck out in your own wilderness? Do you worry that God might not turn up tomorrow? Are you tempted to solve your own problems, completely bypassing God in the process? Stay strong. When you're going through a 'just enough' season God is teaching you to trust Him on a daily basis. Yeah sure, sometimes it can seem like an hourly basis. He's allowing you to taste this verse for real (Word For You Today NZ) Testimony PT.1 I grew up in a Christian home. I was very lucky to be surrounded by Christianity from a very young age. I was born youngest of 3. Being the youngest was hard for me as I was always last to have a say and last to get food at Christmas. I felt like my brother and sister were more important to my mum and dad. I was not very social when I was younger. I went to your run of the mill Christian school. I was surrounded by people just like me but still found it hard to find friends. I remember always trying to join groups and fit in but I wo...

Don't let anyone say to you life with Christ is easy. Today was a drag. First someone I thought I could trust goes behind my back and now wont talk to me. Then the rest of my Badminton quit on me. This meant we had to default to DIO. UGH. Anyway... Life without Christ might seem easy, you might be popular or have all the girls, but there will be something missing. You wont discover this until you become truly alone. At the moment if you are reading this it is for 1 of 2 reasons. Either you have been through struggles and want to find a way to get pass them. Or you are wanting to know if there is anyone like you and have been through the same problems as I have. You just need to know that you are not the only one going through the problems. Over the next few weeks I will be uploading copies of my Testimony, this should help you see what I have been through.

Hi I'm Thom I know that I wont get many looks at this, and that i"m just another person in this world. I'm not trying to make a change in this world, rather tell the real story . Of me, of  my life, who I really am