Just Keep Going On

 Even though Thomas Huxley was wrong about so many things like evolution he was right when he said, “The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man’s foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher.”

Theodora Roosevelt was a perfect example of this.  Pushing hard he would live everyday as if it were his last and when it came to jobs he would tirelessly work at it as if it were his last job.  After years and years of striving and fighting to reached his full potential Theodora Roosevelt climbed the top and became president of the United States.  In Proverbs 22:29 Solomon writes, "Do you see a man skilled in his work?  He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men."  Roosevelt must have known this passage and for he gave 100% to everything he did.

Unfortunately most of us teenagers these day are not passionate in the things we do and are not working hard to achieve our full potential.  When it comes to doing hard things that will move us forward we do not give it all our energy nor do we exert ourselves.  We get comfortable with life. We justify ourselves by saying things like, "Well, I'm doing more than he is," or "At least I am not like her."  Instead of climbing up the ladder we rest on the middle rung. Or to use an another analogy, we sit down on a stepping stone in the middle of the stream.  Yeah, we are comfortable just sitting there with our feet dangling in the cool river.  But that is not what stepping stones are for.  They are meant to get us across the river.

Over 100 years ago a woman named Mary, who lived in Dundee, Scotland, lay awake in bed thinking about the famous explorer David Livingstone.  She began to dream of all the exciting adventures he must of had discovering the uncharted lands of Africa.  Mr. Livingstone's favourite quote was, "I don't care where we go as long as we go forward." 

"Well," Mary thought, "I am not going forward.  I am 27 years old, work 6 days a week in a cotton mill and on Sundays help out at church."  In the quiet of her moonlit room under the warmth of her bed covers she prayed, "God, I want to go forward like David Livingstone.  Send me somewhere, anywhere.  Just send me to be a missionary."

God answered her prayer and Mary Slessor was a missionary  in the Calabar region in Africa for 39 years!  She braved sickness, danger and death all round yet she kept moving forward and gave the gospel to the people of Africa.  Mary did not settle.  She kept moving forward and as a consequence it changed her life and thousands of others.

So, what about you?  Are you moving forward or have you settled halfway up the ladder?

Say Something Nice

I remember when I was practising my vocal solo for the A.C.E. Convention I was feeling pretty stink because I could not get the timing right and I thought my voice sounded dreadful. But when a friend heard me singing and said I had a great voice and that he was nervous about competing against me for he was also doing a vocal solo I immediately felt "ten feet off the ground." My friend never knew the impact his encouraging words had on me, but without them I probably would have never been able to sing my solo.

Words are powerful. They can bring life or death into someone's life.

When a person (especially a guy) says to a girl that she is ugly or comments negatively about her looks in any way, she will often take it it heart and will start believing that maybe she isn't pretty and that no one could love her. Even if what you said was in jest!

Ephesians 4:29 says, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."


So guys, let us build up our sisters in Christ. Tell her she is beautiful or give a word of encouragement. Oh, by the way girls, the reason why guys won't always say you're beautiful is because we are too darn scared. This is because us guys can have major self-confidence issues. I know I do. But, this is where you girls can help. You can give us the confidence boost we need. You see, whenever us guys do something that is outside our comfort zone like giving a speech, leading an activity or even just opening a door for a girl, we always wonder what people think about us. And if nobody says anything we often assume the worst and come to the conclusion that everyone thought what we did was lame or done badly. So if you have a friend who may have just delivered a speech tell him it was great and what parts you enjoyed. Likewise, if he leads something, thank him. Whenever he moves outside his comfort zone encourage him.

Words can make or ruin someone's day. You have the power. So, face your fears encourage each other. Tell her she is beautiful or tell him he is awesome. Go out of your way today and encourage someone. '...a word spoken at the right moment - how good it is' (Proverbs 15:23). Encouragement and nice words spoken - this is one of the ways we can shine the light of Christ.

Rethinking Companionship

 When I was younger Mum always told me to choose my friends wisely. She often would say, "Make sure you have godly friends because the people you hang out with will influence who you will become." I thought, "Fair enough" and followed my wise mother's advice.

Just recently though, I read the book "Do Hard Things" by Alex and Brett Harris and in one chapter they briefly talked about companionship in a new light.

In Proverbs 13:20 Solomon says this, "He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed." (NKJV)

Now for the interesting part. What if companionship was not just limited to people? What if it also included the things and activities we spend our time with? If foolish human companions can harm you aren't foolish movies, websites, computer games, music and comic books just as bad?

Sometimes (and especially in my case) we can actually spend more time with these 'non-human' friends than we do with real people. That's why it is so important to evaluate our activities and honestly ask ourselves which ones are wise friends and which ones are foolish. For example, going for a run would be a wise friend because running has countless benefits for you. While on the other hand randomly surfing You Tube is a foolish friend because it is unproductive and can also be dangerous.

Once you have honestly identified them, replace your foolish friends with wise ones.

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A Quick Word: The Solar System of Your Life

I was reading an article from Desiring God and I thought this was a great picture of why Christ should be the center of our lives.

My conviction is that the better you know the supremacy of Christ the more sacred and satisfying and Christ-exalting your [life] will be. I have a picture in my mind of the majesty of Christ like the sun at the center of the solar system of your life. The massive sun, 333,000 times the mass of the earth, holds all the planets in orbit, even little Pluto, 3.6 billion miles away.

So it is with the supremacy of Christ in your life. All the planets of your life—your sexuality and desires, your commitments and beliefs, your aspirations and dreams, your attitudes and convictions, your habits and disciplines, your solitude and relationships, your labor and leisure, your thinking and feeling—all the planets of your life are held in orbit by the greatness and gravity and blazing brightness of the supremacy of Jesus Christ at the center of your life. And if he ceases to be the bright, blazing, satisfying beauty at the center of your life, the planets will fly into confusion, and a hundred things will be out of control, and sooner or later they will crash into destruction.

Article was from http://desiringgod.org/

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Four Steps to Face Your Fear

When I started on this journey to face all my fears I really wished I had a set formula to help me over come fear. Unfortunately such a thing does not exist because fear does not actually go away until you have done what you where afraid of. But all the same I wanted to share with you the four key steps I took when I faced my fear of "singing in front of people."

1. Yes, That Scares Me

The first thing we need to do in the journey to face our fears is to identify them This step is easy to because we all know what we are scared of. It might be telling your friends about Christ or talking to the girl/guy who is new at school and has no friends. My big fear however was singing in front of people.

2. Get Accountable

This step is super important, yet so many people skip it and thus never do what scares them. You see, when we get accountable and tell people what and when we are going to do something we must do it because if we don't we look like the world's biggest hypocrites.

When I wanted to overcome my singing in public phobia I told over almost a hundred people that I would sing a male solo on stage. Now, if I chickened out of this one (and believe me I almost did) I would look like a massive hypocrite in front of my whole school. This accountability was the thing that kept me from making excuses and looking for ways to skip the solo.

3. Practice, Practice, Practice

You heard the saying that practice makes perfect. Well I'm here today to tell you that this statement is a whole load of... Truth.

Unfortunately there is no fast way to get good at something. Everything worth doing takes time and practice.

When I said I would perform a vocal solo I knew it would take a lot of practice. Thankfully I had been having singing lessons. Thankfully I had six months before the day I said to would do it. So guess what I did for those six months. Yeah, that's right, I practised, practised and practised some more.

4. Just Do It

This is by far the hardest step out of the four. The climax, the end, the showdown, the final frontier! Or also known as the part where you actually do what you are deathly afraid of.

When the time came for me to walk on to the stage and perform my vocal solo I felt fear in all its dreadful strength. I had so much self-doubt and kept asking myself why the heck I was doing this, but when I actually started and got into my song all the fear left me. That's why, when the time comes there is no magic word or prayer that will make the fear go away. The only thing you want do is "Just do it."



"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to face it." - Lt. John B. Putnam Jr. (1921-1944)

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The Ultimate Adventure

Since the beginning of this year I made a conscious decision to always say "yes" to doing the things that scared me. That's why I said yes to preaching in front of a hundred people and that's why I performed a male vocal solo at the Student Convention. Both these things scared my socks off, yet I have leant so much from them and grown in confidence, purpose and faith in God.


Often teens are saying that their lives get kind of boring. They always dream of adventure like we see in the movies. I mean what guy hasn't thought life would be a heck of a lot cooler if he was a secret agent or something.

I know that everyone at some point must have wished that their lives weren't so boring. Me included. I was always looking to the next thrill, the ultimate adventure. That's why I love mountain climbing. There's nothing like being 2000+ metres up knowing that if you make a mistake you could fall over 1km to your death. I know this ain't for everyone, but this is my kind of adventure. Yours might be having a romantic relationship or traveling the world, but the problem with these adventures is that they are very temporary and lack purpose. Yet we do them because we do not know that our Father in Heaven has the ultimate adventure waiting for each one of us. His adventure for us has been hand crafted by Him for us and always has purpose.

But here's the catch. God's adventure for your life has been designed to stretch you and get you to move outside your comfort zone. If we want to live the ultimate adventure we need to be able to overcome our fears. That's why I recommend - always do what you are afraid to do - if it is beneficial to others.

A teenager's life does not have to be boring. God has an exciting adventure waiting for all of us. All He asks is that we be available and willing: Willing to do the hard stuff even if it scares our socks off.

In the next post I will give you some practical steps to overcoming fear.

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I'm the Guinea Pig! Part Three

Well, the next day came and with it the dread of having to perform my solo. Even though John had encouraged me I still felt majorly scared. When I went down to breakfast I started to feel really nervous. I was practically dying inside, asking myself why on earth I had said yes to performing a male solo. But then I thought, "No, I will overcome this fear!" So I went straight to our choir teacher and asked her to listen to my solo and tell me what she thought of it. I was still nervous singing it in front of her, but I thought that it was a good idea to tackle a little, scary thing before I took on the big one that afternoon. This worked out to be one of the best decisions I could have made because she sincerely encouraged me and said I had a really nice voice which meant a lot coming from a musical person like her.

After this practice I went into the music room to await my turn to perform. I became rather scared waiting there to sing and old fears began to creep in again. But thankfully I didn't have the time to be swallowed by my fears for my singing teacher had just walked in and I was called up to perform my vocal solo. I slowly made my way to the stage praying that nobody could see me trembling. I felt rigid and way out of place like a fish out of water when I introduced my song. I quickly closed my eyes as the music began and prayed again for God's strength. Then I opened my mouth and began to sing like I had never sung before. I forgot the audience and the judges and sang my song with all the emotion I had. My song was about the beauty and commitment of marriage and so it made some of the mothers in the audience cry. A friend had once jokingly told me that her greatest ambition in life was to make the audience cry, so I guess I must have done okay. I finished the song and felt so relieved to have done it. My sister Lydia came up to me and said, "Flip, I didn't know you could sing like that!" As you can imagine I felt pretty good. I had just overcome my greatest fear. Now that I look back on that day I wonder why singing in front of people scared me so much, I mean, now I kind of enjoy it. I never dreamed that something I was so scared of is now something I love to do. But, I guess that is what happens when people face their fears.

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I'm the Guinea Pig! Part Two

As I mentioned in my last blog post I was going off to the A.C.E Convention to face my fear of singing. Well, that is exactly what I did.

When we arrived I did not feel very prepared for my solo because I was still getting the timing wrong and was rushing the song every time I practiced it at home or with my teacher and just to make matters worse I had to share my room with seven other guys which meant I would never be able to practice my song alone. Grrrr!

I was scheduled to perform my solo Wednesday just after lunch so I had one day to practise it and get it right. So I pulled out my CD player, did my singing warm-ups and began to sing my song in my room which was in the boys dorm. I could hear everybody outside and see guys walking up and down the hallway knowing they could all hear me singing. Even though everything in my mind told me to just shut up I kept on singing; but then the door to my room opened and in walked my friend (who I will call John for the sake of privacy). John asked if he could sit in and listen to my solo. My first thought was, "Heck no!" But then I remembered that I was going to perform it in front of heaps of people the next day. So I said, "Sure, that would be helpful." John sat down and I sung my solo. I thought the run through was dreadful, but at the end John said, "Wow, that's an awesome song and you have an amazing voice!" At first I was like, "Nar, my voice is not amazing." Then I thought, "Maybe John is right. Maybe I do have an okay voice. I mean, I have been having professional singing lessons for over a year now. Maybe I do have a good voice!" With his words of encouragement John had planted a seed of hope in my mind which prepared me for the next scary step...

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I'm the Guinea Pig! Part One

Okay, this is what's going down. Next week I am going to the A.C.E Convention (A.C.E is the school curriculum I used when I was at school and the A.C.E Convention is an event where students from A.C.E schools come and compete against each other in different events). Even though I am really looking forward to it I am dreading one thing. I have decided to perform a Male Vocal Solo. Know, for some people that doesn't sound scary, but for me singing in front of people is my greatest fear. Plus at Convention I will be judged!

Thankfully I have prepared and do have a singing teacher, but I am still very nervous about it. I know I need to do this because I would be a hypocrite telling you guys to face your fears while I didn't.

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Do It As A Teen, Part 3

Okay, so in the last post we established that teens are just has capable as adults at acheiving their God-given potential, yet we don't. Why is that? Well, I believe it all boils down to one four lettered word: FEAR. There are three kinds of fear: Fear of the unknon, fear of what people might think of you, fear of failure. (if you can think of more please tell me). I will address each one of these fears in later posts, but right now I will show you one of the best ways to overcome any fear.

The best way to defeat fear is to have a dream or a God-given task. You see, what happens when we have a big God-given dream ahead of us and we keep our eyes on it, we don't notice the fear in our way.

One of the best examples of this is Zach Hunter. At age 12 he learnt about the "underground railroad" that helped free slaves in America during the 1800's. He said that if he was alive then he would have helped the slaves to freedom. He told his mother and she informed him that there are even more slaves in the world today than there were back then. Something moved in Zach and even though he was a very shy kid who often suffered from anxiety attacks, he decided to do something about modern-day slavery. He started a charity called, "Loose Change to Loosen Chains."to begin with he went around his school collecting money from students to help free slaves. It was not long before what he was doing started to spread. By age 15 Zach was speaking at schools and churches all over the place. Then one day he was asked to give a speech at a huge music event with an audience of more than 20,000 people. The day came and Zach was waiting back stage with his Mom. Suddenly Zach felt one of his anxiety attacks come over him and he told his mother, "I don't think I can do this!" To which his mother replied, "You don't have to." In that moment something clicked and he said, "If I don't then who will." Zach went out on that stage in front of 20,000 plus people and told them about modern day slavery. When he came back off stage he said to his Mom, "God met me at the microphone!"

God will also meet you at the microphone. When you step out and do something big for God He will not let you down. If you can keep your eyes on your dream and on God you will not see the fear. It's like when Peter stepped out of the boat to meet Jesus on the water. As long as Peter kept his eyes on his Saviour he stayed above the water, but as soon as he looked at the waves he began to sink.

You have a God-given potential in your life and He will be with you every step of the way. God wants to use you to change this world.

So, what is your dream?



P.S. As a teenager I know how hard it is to find your God-given purpose. For me personally it took a whole year before I found my purpose. In the next post I will try and show you how to find your dream.

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Do It As A Teen - Part 2

A few years back, I competed in a 33km mountain bike race. At the start line there was little me and and heaps of full grown adult men. As I looked at my competition I thought, "Heck, I don't stand a chance! I mean, look at all these buff looking dudes!" The whistle went and we began the race. Thinking most of the adults would want to overtake me I let them get ahead early, but as the race continued and people were starting to tire I found that I was starting to overtake most of my adult competition. It was the best feeling in the world when I saw the look on their faces as this skinny white boy powered ahead of them. After the race had ended I had a sudden realization, "I am only a teenager, yet today I outperformed most of the adults in the race! Are teenagers just as capable as adults?"

According to the Bible the answer to this question is technically yes. For in 1 Corinthians 13:11 we read,

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man I put childish ways behind me."

Well, the Bible says nothing about teenagers. There is no middle stage between childhood and adulthood.  It doesn't say:

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a teenager I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became a man I put teenaged ways behind me."


Well, that just popped your bubble didn't it? The Bible has a tendency to do that for us. God's Word says that we go from child to adult. Which is true. Think about it for a minute. We as teens have the body of an adult (once we go through puberty) and the thought capacity of an adult. We can do Algebra just as well as most adults. We as teenagers are freer than adults and have a more flexible schedule. So, why should we wait till we are an adult to do something big? Now is the best time to dream and now is the best time to fulfill those dreams! Do it as a teen.

In the next post I will show you the steps in finding and fulfilling your God given dream.

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Do It As A Teen: Part 1

One night about six months ago a group of us guys went into Auckland city for a friend of mine's Stag Do before his wedding. Yeah, Auckland city late on a Friday night, not a good idea. When we arrived on the main street the first thing I noticed was the amount of young people that were going from bar to bar getting very drunk. Yet, the drinking was not the thing that upset me. I mean yes, getting drunk is bad, but what really struck me as horrible was the amount of wasted potential. Every young person there had great potential, but they were wasting their lives away with drink.

Why do we as teenagers do this? Why do we see our teen years as a time to goof off from responsibility? Well, the reason why is because that is what is expected of us. The world has very low expectations of teens. I mean seriously think about it. We as teenagers are not given very many responsibilities. The few that we do have are these:

• Tidy your own room.
• Wake up in the morning in time to go to school (often Mum will help you with this).
• Go to school.
• And maybe one small job around the house like taking out the rubbish or loading the dishwasher

Okay, maybe your life consists of a bit more, but all I am trying to do is make a point. Because the world has low expectation of us we never fulfill our true God given potential. Once while at church an elderly man asked me what was it I do. I told him I run an online toy store and a toy wholesale company. He looked at me surprised and then said, "How old are you?" I told him I was eighteen. To which he replied, "Wow, you are doing very, very well for your age!" at first I thought, Yeah, I am doing well for my age." Just as I was starting to treat myself to a self-praise party a second thought popped into my head, "No, the only reason he thinks I am doing well for my age is because he probably like the rest of the world has low expectations of teenagers!"

The world has low expectations of us and we are falling to those standards. The world says the teen years are a holiday from responsibility and a time to goof off and have fun. So, that is exactly what we do.

Is there more to the years of a teenager? Yes, and I will cover it in my next post.

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Always Do What you are Afraid to Do - My Speech

 This was a speech I gave at a pre-Convention rally in April 2012.

Once upon a time there were two sheep that lived on the Hill of Left.  From the Hill of Left they could see the luscious, green grass of the Hill of Right.  Both sheep wanted so badly to be on the other hill that it was all they ever dreamt or talked about.  There was one obstacle that was stopping them from achieving their dream.  The only way to get to the great Hill of Right was across a sturdy bridge that spanned a 1000 foot drop!  The two sheep were so afraid of heights that they never attempted the short, easy walk across the bridge to the Hill of Right.  Instead they stayed on the Hill of Left, talking and dreaming about the Hill of Right, until the day they died.

The reason why these two sheep never achieved their dream was because they never faced their fears.

And that is what I am going to talk about today: The importance of facing your fears.

We all have fears.  For some people it might be a fear of heights, fear of what people might think of you or fear of looking dumb in front of your peers.  My two top fears were and still are:  public speaking and singing in front of people.  I was scared stiff about public speaking that even when it came to putting an idea forward in front of a group I felt nervous.  As for singing in front of others, I wouldn’t even sing in my bedroom for fear that someone might hear me.

So when it came to doing the A.C.E Convention (a place where A.C.E students come together and compete in different categories) I was not overly keen to participate.  To motivate me, my loving mother gave me a list of the things that you could do at Convention. And this is how I read it:

Dramatic Dialogue – No

One-Act-Play – No

Male Poetry Recitation - No

No, no, no, no, no,

Group Bible speaking?  What on earth is that?

Choir – No

Male Vocal Solo – not in a million Years!!!

Well Convention is obviously not for me.                         

But Mum did what any caring mother would do when they see something that will benefit their child but the child does not want to do it.  She forced me to do it.  Mum told me that I had to perform one solo act at Convention.  After much debate with me explaining how I would probably faint because of stage fight I finally decided to do an instrumental solo with my Celtic Whistle.  At least I wouldn’t have to talk, just breathe into a pipe. 

After two months of practising my ‘pipe breathing’ the dreaded time came.  I made my way to the ‘stage of death’.  Knees knocking, hands sweating, every fibre in my body screamed for me to turn and run away from my impending doom.   Somehow I forced myself up onto the platform.  I introduced myself, started playing and it was then that I noticed something strange.  Playing my song there up on stage really wasn’t that bad.  I was like one of the sheep who had made the journey from Hill of Left to the Hill of Right.  I had overcome one of my greatest fears.  Plus I had just uncovered the secret facing your fears.  What is this secret?  Well Ralph Waldo Emerson a famous writer and lecturer in the 19^th century puts it like this:

“It was high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, 'always do what you are afraid to do’.”

Always do what you are afraid to do.

This doesn’t mean that you should try jumping off a 100m cliff or swim in shark infested waters.  Some fears are healthy!  But what it does mean is that you should always do that thing that scares you if it is either beneficial for you or other people.  For example, this year I will be performing a Male Vocal Solo at Convention.

I will be scared but I know I can do it because God is with me.  I know this because He says so, in Deuteronomy 31:6

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Do you truly believe that?  If so, then always do what you are afraid to do.  I promise you that if you follow these words you will have a very successful, fulfilling life where God can always use you.

In closing I would like to say that Courage is not the lack of fear but the ability to face it.

So, fellow student let us fulfil His Commandment, let us strong and courageous for God!