I've been writing a lot lately but mostly if not totally on my vaio for my eyes only... I guess some stuff I'm not ready to share with the world yet but in saying that, it's probably not appropriate to share everything with people I do and don't know.

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I watched the movie 'Once' tonight. I guess I had high expectations for a lot of reasons, maybe too high almost waiting to be let down... but I wasn't let down... not at all.

Musicals are part of who I am I think. The feelings they evoke within me are so natural. Genuine to the core.

'Once' for me, felt real. The fact that the energy of the movie was not due to cinematic special effects or famous actors, it was not generated by a 'hollywood' feel... it's almost like life reflecting art, rather than art reflecting life. Does that make sense? For me - I know what I'm trying to say.

This is what truly amazes me: There's no "adult scenes", no kissing, none of the usual "inevitable scenes" and yet all of the poignance exists in its entirety. Not dulled down at all. There is a tension and a freedom at the same time and it's as if in the music, the movie stands still yet evokes movement all the same. I could do nothing but be drawn into the scenes. Surrendering to a guy and a girl in the midst of a million silent questions.

I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it because in a world of expectations, this movie was unexpected.

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I guess what tugged at me as I watched 'Once' was all that God's been doing in my life the past few weeks as well. You know how movies and music do that? Accentuate the details of your life? Or maybe cast light onto areas that were a shade of grey?

I've been learning so much from so many people/places about love and relationships, and in 'Once' so many of my thoughts breathed life. I guess though that at the moment I'm so caught up in what's on screen (the 2nd time watching) that I'm blabbering on and not making a whole lot of sense.... so I'll write some more thoughts soon.

xx
C

1. I function better if I've woken up after midday and the current time is after midnight.
2. I love to write without pretense but often struggle to write anything inspired when meeting a deadline.
3. I love to read a good book over and over again and the same goes for watching movies.
4. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to someone else's grammar and spelling, but often can't stand using correct grammar and spelling in my own writing.
5. I don't understand what's so great about the Hoff!
6. I seem to have a knack for meeting influential people without really realising it
7. I want to adopt a teenager one day as they quite often are looked over because of their age
8. One of my deepest desires is to see all Christians fighting together in unity. I want to see prodigals return to God and to see everyone living in their Promised Land where God influences their every moment.
9. I believe that fairytales are not so far off reality. Life has battles to fight but at the end of it, there is a prince and he rescues the princess. And they live happily ever after.

Eight ways to win your heart: (in no particular order)

1. Be genuinely interested and showing it
2. Have an opinion and a voice whilst being open to change
3. Be strong and masculine whilst remaining gentle and sensitive
4. Initiative
5. Spend time with me!
6. Positivity (keeping this one here from Mikey's)
7. Found in Jesus.
8. Notes of interest -- this is emails, phone calls and letters just to find out how life is.

1. I can't believe how good God is!
2. What do I need to get done next?
3. What's the time?
4. My gosh! 
5. When is the right time?
6. Hot chocolate ?
7. I should clean my apartment!

1. I want to start my own family
2. I want to preach everywhere God leads
3. I want to own my dream house
4. I want to meet my birth mum
5. I want to hear my songs being played in church and on a CD
6. I want to go skydiving

Five turn offs:

1. Pride/Stubborness
2. Intrusiveness
3. Inappropriate immaturity
4. Slander
5. Sheep (seriously!)

1. Intelligence
2. Passion
3. Transparency
4. Masculinity/Leadership

1. : )
2. : D
3. ; P

1. became boy crazy between age 10 - 16.
2. got caught up in pop culture

I was thinking about that today, being Good Friday and all...

I was talking to some people at work the other day about Easter and someone made the comment, "Oh, that's right, Easter is religious!" At that moment I realised how much Easter has become all about chocolates and myths... and further to that, some friends of mine also talked of going to parties all weekend and getting drunk... I'm not here to judge them and so I won't. I am just saddened because of what Easter seems to have become for so many people.

I walk around my neighbourhood and the only reminder that today is Good Friday lies on the door of Woolworths, which is not open due to it being Good Friday... my convenience store is still open. All of the pubs and clubs are still open. The adult bookshops are open. All of the small takeaway shops and bargain shops are open. Hairdressers are open. No one would blame me if I thought today was just another day of the year...

And then I thought about it some more... for all of these people, Good Friday is just another public holiday... an excuse for a long weekend. And why not..? And even if there are additional church services on around the place, what does that matter to them? Is there anything particularly different about today compared to yesterday visually? No.

Let me ask you all a question... what tree do you sit in? I know that for so long, I thought -- woooahh... Good Friday... Easter... these days are especially holy and then the day after Easter I would return to my normal life... But I don't think that is how it should be. If we look at Easter in the context of God's Word, we see that Jesus dying on that Cross and rising again on the 3rd day was NOT the climax of God's Word... If it were the climax, then everything else in life would pale into insignificance. 

I'd like to put out there that when Jesus rose from the dead, the first thing He did was go and be with people so that the world would know He was alive. He then spoke the great commission, telling people to go forth into all the nations and preach the good news. Further to that, people did in fact go out and spread the good news and the the Bible AFTER Jesus' death and resurrection, goes on to build up to the climax in Revelation where we read about the final victory over Satan!

Where am I going with all of this? Simply that at Easter time we should not merely remember what Jesus did for us, but what His message those that believe was afterwards. And that Easter should NOT be a climax in our lives. It should be a reminder to us of the freedom we can know and the Good News we need to share with the world - not just today, but everyday.

I know I've rambled on a bit so thanks for sticking with me.

One last thought before I wrap this up -- Jesus died so that we could live. Not simply float through life, but really LIVE. His sacrifice was the ultimate price and now He calls us forth to take our inheritence. So let's go!

xx C

Life is full of many twists and turns.
It's not always easy and quite often feels more than a little overwhelming, but you know what I've found out? Thre is eternal assurance in the fact that God loves me and cares for me enough to save me from eternal death so this means that no matter what I'm going through, I don't have to go it alone!

That revelation has continually rocked my world for the past few years and what I'm stoked about most now is that  when times are especially tough in some aspects of my life, God has given me oh so many reasons to rejoice and be excited.

Let me explain..

That chapter that has ended in my life (and I've explained to you already), has come up in conversation in the past few days and especially today and everything within me wants to flip back a few pages to the chapters contents (figuratively speaking) to find out if the chapter is really finished or not, but I know I can't because it would suffocate me... but through it all, God gives me days like the one I've had today with 2 great friends in my life full of fun memories and joyful times and I am reminded that God is always there to catch me, to look out for me and to protect me.

I've been getting into the Psalms a lot lately and Pslam 108:1 has particularly stood out to me...
My heart is confident in you, O God; no wonder I can sing your praises! Wake up, my soul!

That's exactly my thoughts right now - summed so concisely. My heart is confident in God... It's not my head that's confident in God because my head tries to rationalise anything and everything and make all "as it should be" according to Carli. My heart which ultimately what comes from my mouth and my actions is confident in God. No matter what comes my way, I am confident that my God knows what each moment holds and will equip me every step of the way as I hold onto Him, secure in his love.

Lately I've just had so much happiness bursting from me that it's been crazy... thing is, I've tried to hold it in and it just explodes from me because I long to share my happiness and God's awesomeness with everyone around me! And doing the journey with him, gives me a desire to totally get to know people !!! So I'm gonna run with it because I've never cared as much as I do now.

In summary: I am stoked with life right now. Fully stoked!

I'll totally write more soon after having some sleep and doing life some more.

Bring on tomorrow (or today!)!

C.

Dudes and Dudettes ? Ha.

Onto serious matters... matters of the heart (OH!)

Yesterday was a wayyy good day... let me rephrase slightly - it ROCKED !!!

I've learnt soo much from God. Actually - it's been a continuation of the last few weeks... about how to love and live and fight!

I will go into details tonight about these messages... except to say - man... God is just so awesome.

Thankyou to everyone that made my day yesterday so enjoyable. You all rock and I hope there are many more days like yesterday and even better to come !

More tonight... DEFINITELY tonight!

Oh -- comment time... Anyone had an awesome day yesterday? Let me know!!! I love hearing about others!

I work in IT all day every day and so it only figures that the subject line for this post needed to feature something to draw you into the inner workings of my mind. Lately I've been synchronising hotels with the central reservations system at work which has been tedious at times but very rewarding to know I can do it by myself!

So.. the social experiment today was simple: go to work in a dress and note the responses... oh ok, so I didn't officially want to conduct the experiment but it just happened by default and now it's a hindsight experiment!

One of my colleagues exclaimed "You're a girl!", another said "Let me have a look at your dress"... I received a text message from a girl I haven't seen/heard from in about 5 months saying "Hey. Just saw u at the bus stop. The dress u were wearing looked stunning." Other people said, "I've never seen you in a dress before!"

So - outcome of experiment = Apparently I'm female after all!

Of course, anyone who looks at my facebook (currently the number 4 result if you search my name in google) would know I have dresses and look ok in them! ha!

Moving forward (Yes... it's the Mirvac Way 24-7), my goal is to wear more dresses sporatically so that I continue to receive beautiful compliments! lol. j/k.

Oh -- and if I can draw your attention back to a few lines above this one, can you believe that the first SIX entries on google.com when you type in "Carli Duncan" are all my pages ?? Never mind that I don't use Bebo or really anything else but facebook! My dad brought this to my attention and I laugh. What do you get when you google your name?? (edit: I just discovered the linking feature so that carliduncan.tk now comes directly here!)

For anyone who wants to know, I am going to attempt to wear a dress on at least 2 occasions in the next 7 days... Sunday and Wednesday... I'll take photos as proof! haha.

Love to you all... I know you're reading - even if you aren't commenting!

Oh -- and if anyone is interested in knowing a bit more about me... check out http://revolutionaries.blogspot.com because there's some inspiring stuff there!

xx.

C.

I wanted to put this out here and get your thoughts... beautiful girls you are more than welcome to comment as well!


                                  THE PROVERBS 31 MAN

Who can find a man of integrity? For such a one is of priceless value that perpetually increases.

He walks in the fear of the Lord and observes all of His statutes.

He embraces wisdom wholeheartedl and continues in the way of sound discipline. He maintains discretion and does not depart from the path of righteousness, for he understands words of insight.

He treats his wife as he treats his own body, seeking her protection and well-beng at all times.

The heart of his wife rests beneath his covering and flourishes in all fruitfulness under the outpouring of his love.

He is faithful, drinking from his own well, and is unceasingly satisfied by the wife of his youth, always loving her as a lover who loves still.

He will do her good not evil all the days of his life. Though he waxes strong, he exercises humility.

He diligently works to answer and supply the needs of his family and household. His wife has no fear of the times to come for he prudently considers the future and prepares for it.

He is kind to the needy, and his name is synonymous with a good report. His reputation precedes him; therefore, others seek his counsel and follow his example as well as instruction. His mouth is a fountain of life to his household and to all who seek refreshing.

He walks in confidence and sound judgement, administering wise instruction to his wife and children.

He sets his house in God-ordained order, He redeems his household and covers its inhabitants with prayer.

He considers the words of his wife, celebrates her wisdom, and crowns her as a helpmeet for him. He grants her a double portion, blesses her gifts, and boasts of her achievements.

He is clothed in love and faithfulness. He trusts and rests secure in the help of his Redeemer.

Many men appear to be desirable at first glance, but the man who fears the Lord is to be praised, for his witness endures the test of time and scrutiny. Give him the honour he has earned and let the work of his hands prosper and be spread abroad.

-- Michelle McKinney Hammond