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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