One Busy Month...

Once again I apologize because it has been ages since I last wrote you all. As always things have been anything but calm here. I have spent the last two week immersed in projects, assessment, performances, album recordings, and everything else that comes with being at Hillsong College. It has all been quite the rush but I'm very grateful for every second of it. Over the last two weekends I got to be a part of projects and events that immediately influenced over 20,000 peoples lives and will go on to reach millions more in the coming months. At present I am sitting in Michel's coffee house waiting for another class to start. With only two more weeks left here I have a bitter sweet feeling of longing for home and knowing I will miss this new home. For those of you who have not heard I will be returning to Boise, Idaho to take up a job at Eagle Christian Church heading up their audio ministry. This has been a strange turn of events in my life but when God opens doors sometimes all you can do is go with it and work with what is placed in your hand. The most common question I have been asked is if I regret my time here at Hillsong and for those of you that are wondering I don't for a second. I've learned much and grown more. I have gotten to see and be a part of things some people only dream of, and more than all of this I have made priceless relationships that I hope to carry throughout my lifetime.

Now on a less serious note let me tell you a story.
Yesterday afternoon I found myself sitting in my living room with a few of my house mate and another guy from school. We were all working on our computers when almost all at once we finished what we were doing. We all looked at each other with a look of confusion as we realized that we are never all together with nothing to do... So in a spontaneous moment someone said "let's go to the city"... Next thing I know four of us are in a flaming hot car stuck in traffic relying on a half working GPS to find our way. It's quite funny being with three guys with no real mission or focus. After about half way there they decided the one thing we were going to do was get Justin to the opera house. After an hour of driving, another hour of tying to find a place to park (that we could afford), and 30 minutes of walking we finally made our way there. We looked at it for about 5 minutes and walked around it then looked at each other not understanding what to do next. After much debate and some input from the looming thunder storm we ended up back on a ferry toward the harbor our car was parked at. I nearly forgot to mention that half of us were missing our wallets and the car did not have enough gas to get home. After getting back to the car we all scraped together some change and paid for the car park. As we started to drive there was a sudden air of frustration in the back seat as the phone that had our GPS on it had roughly 10 minutes of battery left. We decided to use it to get as far as we can then figure it out from there. Once again we all dug together to find change for gas (and I mean change... All small coins). We got one a road we mostly knew or at least knew where it would place us, and made our way home. Right as we reached what would seem to be the home stretch there was a strange loud noise and the car started drifting to the left. We pulled over to find our front left tire blew out. So in the manner only a group of guys could do we stood on the side of a highway and watched one guy do all the work (me)... After our short detour we got back on the road and arrived back home around 11pm. As I look back on it this morning I don't believe we accomplished anything outside of walking around the outside opera house... My friend across the table say only a group of guys could use so much effort to accomplish so little...

I will leave you with that for now...
Blessings! I've gotta run to class!!!

Back on Task.

Hey everyone, sorry once again that it has been so long since I have posted anything. I can’t really make excuses aside from being so busy tying to figure out life and not knowing exactly what to write about. Everything here in Australia is going well. We are all just getting back from our spring break (I know spring in October sounds strange). Everyone had a good break although  I managed to spend most of mine either sick at home or working on different projects. Both Kristian and I forced ourselves to have at least one day where we went out and had fun so we spent all of last Tuesday in the city with some friends. It was a blast and I even managed to find an alright cup of coffee... The days until the end of the semester have begun to draw near as the different major project become due and life becomes more and more crazy. Among school and church I have been asked to help out during album week which I believe should be a blast. For those of you who don’t know what that is. “album week” is the week coming up to their live album recording which is quite the event being held at one of the largest arenas in Sydney. All in all I still have yet to find out what it initials but I’m looking forward to the experience. 

As always there is heaps of pressure on me within these next few weeks of assessments, work, and life changing moves so your prayers are always welcomed and ver encouraged. 

Until later.

Between a rock and a hard place.

It has been a few weeks now since I last wrote you all, and I hope you’ll forgive my neglect. I have been on quite the roller coaster over the last few days and weeks as I try to understand where God would like me. I am now standing between two pathways both  good yet I find that I am troubled with the choice. Isn’t it ironic that I could be so distressed and concerned about two things that are both good... I’m sure you are wondering exactly what it is I am talking about but as for now I am not at liberty  to say fully. All I can let you know is I have been offered a few good things that are in different places and therefore can not be done at the same time.

It is once again another sunny spring day here in Sydney as we discuss Monasticism and systematic theology in our random mixed up class... Aka all 1st & 2nd years in one class (Long story). The rest of today is actually fairly relaxing. I am going to recontact a few more places I applied for work and probably take a night for myself. With school holidays coming up soon the student body has become a little more restless as they await their much needed break. Everything is starting to get a bit more busy around here with Mens conference, and album week arriving shortly, and I’m excited to help with album week. 

Over all I think things are going well here and I hope to get to tell you all more as time goes on.

Until another day...

Another Day Down Under...

It has been a few weeks since I have written anything to you all.  In the last few weeks things have been  a roller coaster of events. Some good, some not so good. Over the corse of these last two weeks I have seen friends find work and get funding and others have their 3 week old MacBookPro completely distorted and another end up on crutches because of one misstep.  

I have been privileged to have work this last weekend and the possibility of more in the near future. During the week I have been running like crazy tying to keep up with everything that is going on here. It is quite the mad house here from day to day, and one that I seem to thrive in very well. I have learned a whole new level of appreciation for my craft (production), whether that is caused by the 40 minute walks in the freezing rain at 5 in the morning, or by long hours of work that gets taken apart in a matter of 30 minutes or less. I have learned that I do what I do because I love what I do and I love who is glorified through it. (Please don't hate on my horrid grammar…) 

Although life is not easy here I have come to appreciate it and the challenges that every new day brings. I have learned that while at school they pack our days out so much in order to give us roughly 10 years worth of ministry experience within one or two years. Amazingly enough today is my day off (meaning I got to leave the school at noon rather then 5pm) so I am getting some rest and possibly going to have some fun tonight… I am still in great need of work to continue my studies here, while I have had some it is still not consistent enough to make due. I have been assured time and time again that God will provide. So I'm going to just keep tying my best and see what he's got planned for me. 

Im sorry its been so long since I have posted anything. I hope to get some pictures and videos up soon enough so you can see a bit more of life down under. 

Just another night...

Sitting in a room full of very silent guys, a few of my house mates and I begin to think on the fact that we are running out of funding. We have all hunted week in, and week out for work and done everything in our power to cut food costs to nearly nothing but our near future looks bleak still. As we all look around the room one of my house mates makes the simple yet profound comment “how is it possible that God sent us all half way around the world to just go back home?”. Confused, distort, and somewhat disheartened we all went about what we were doing tying to ignore the feelings of uncertainty that now eclipsed our lives. I honestly don’t know what to do outside of continuing to try my best with have is placed in front of me. 

I hope tonight finds you all well, and that you week continues the same.

Until later...

A Different Kind of Chapel...

After another insane week our video team has released the chapel opener video with some clips of the actual chapel mixed in. This is truly a great example of the kind of work we are doing. 

Back to the Basics...

It is a truly beautiful feeling to understand ones life, in a day to day sense of corse. I mean I would love to understand everything, but lets leave that post for another (more arrogant) season of life. I have now learned my new lives routine! It is a cloudy Saturday  night here in Sydney, Australia. Most of my house mates are out at different parties but the faithful few (Kristian, Justin, and myself) are spending a restful evening knowing that tomorrow will be a busy day. For unlike some of our other house mates we “get to” serve at O’-dark thirty in the morning. Although life is going well here realism does ask that you all be praying for me as I continue searching for work. The clock is counting down to the time when my savings and your wonderful support runs out. I have been steadily assured that I will find a job, but would love prayer in that matter. 

I hope all is well back home. I best go rest my scatter-brained mind.

Blessings!

Last Day of Intensives!

Its 9am on a lovely winters morning as I find myself sitting in the welcoming atmosphere of our local Gloria Jean's coffee house. The blue sky promises a warm day as the sun begins to rise unhindered by clouds. I myself feel very refreshed because this day marks the end of intensive courses for the semester at Hillsong College. As of next week we dive right into our weekly studies and begin a somewhat normal routine.

Over the last two weeks we have learned much and been challenged even more as we are placed in our new environment as though jumping into a rushing river. I have quickly learnt that Hillsong truly is the church that never sleeps as we have events and classes running ever day and night. In my short time here I have already been rostered as a part of their production team and within the first two week I was placed behind a sound board in their children's ministry. It seems funny to think that running sound for children is something I am excited about, but let me tell you this. Their children's ministry is by far just as hard to run as any main service I ran back in the States. This last Sunday I had the privilege of mixing for a ten person band 2 MC's and a pastor along with playing Audio streamed from the production room. I must say it was quite the challenge to keep up with everything going on while tying to learn a new sound system.

All in all God has continued to bless me and grow me as each day I get my limits pushed and my thoughts challenged. 

I hope this day is finding you all well.

Until later...

James

Another Winters Morning 22/7/11

Today is truly a good day. We have now made it past enrollment and orientation. While your probably thinking “What is so hard about those two?”, I can easily say that the last two days were some of the most challenging I have ever had. Acclimating to this new system and new culture has left me a bit unbalanced to say the least. More than this was the stress and fear behind finding out I needed to audition with an instrument to be able to study production. I can now tell you there are few things in life more terrifying then a group of professional and semi professional drummers picking apart your every move as you attempt to play songs you don’t know. When I got up from the drum throne I was literally shaking from my stress. I walked away from that room thinking I did awful and that I might not make it in the program, but to my surprise I actually received a good review!

The weather here has been rather dreary as Sydney is getting the most rain it has in 23 years. Luckily, the college has been able to help provide shuttle home at nights so we don’t have to make 2 long walks in the rain. As of Tuesday we start our intensives, which are 2 weeks of intro classes going from 8am-5pm. Hopefully all goes well and I get on board with how everything works here.

First Weekend. 17/7/11

As I woke this morning in a mad panic to get ready for church, I walked out of my room to a house full of sleeping guys. It suddenly dawned on me that I did not need to be at Eagle Christian Church at 6 am. In fact I did not need to be anywhere at all. For the first time in ages I actually went to church at 11am and simply attended church. It was amazing to be able to worship and not have a thought about what was going on, or if the transitions were going to happen on time. Looking back on this morning there were mistakes made and hiccups in the production but it never stopped us from worshiping God. Needless to say worship was simply amazing. The resources and facilities were great and I am looking forward to learning and growing with the men and women here.

It is still a bit surreal to be here in Sydney and see a whole new angle of Gods creations and people. I hope your day has been as blessed as mine!

Finally feeling at home! 15/7/11

After nearly 3 weeks in Australia I have finally reached my new home for the next few years. My new family consists of 9 other guys; Lorenzo from Chili, Gustavo from Mexico, Kristian from Oregon, Michael from Oklahoma, Justin also from Oklahoma, Nathan from Brazil, Artem from Florida, and 2 other we still have yet to meet.
Even though our house is mostly made up of guys from the USA it still has no lack of cultural influence from the rest.
We live in a rather large, but empty house (not what i was expecting when I heard college housing). It is located at 6 Francesco Crest. Bella Vista, NSW 2152 in Australia. I will try to get some pictures up as soon as I can.

One thing I can tell you all without a doubt is that the group of people placed in my are going to grow me and challenge me more then I could ever have hoped. I feel so blessed that God has placed me here!

A Sunny Winter Morning.

As the sun peaks through the window and the streets fill with the sound of busy people I find myself lying awake and wondering what this day holds for me. It is truly strange to wake up and not know exactly where I am. This morning I find myself staying with a man from Charlestown Church of Christ here in Newcastle, Australia. 6am this morning marks the end of my first week in Australia. It is hard to think I have been here a week already, but amazing to know that God has provided beyond anything I could ask during my time here.

Oh, it sounds like Kristian is finally awake.
Until later,

James.

Up Up and Away! (part 2)

It is now 9:30AM in Idaho, 1:30AM in Sydney, and God only knows what time where I am now as this adventure continues. Still sitting sum 34,000 feet in the air I find myself looking through the window and sitting in wonder of Gods creation. It is strange to look out the windows and see stars beside you as though I were on their same level. There is no horizon to be seen, only a black void filled with Gods creation. It is truly humbling to see the glory of the father from such an angle as this.

With only 4 hours left on my 15 hour flight I find myself eager and very excited for this new chapter in my life.

Until later,

-James

Up Up and Away!

With 6782 miles to go I now find myself 30,000 thousand feet in the air wondering about all that lies before me. God has been more than faithful in meeting all of my needs to this point even if they were not what I expected them to be. For instance good friend Kristian Krohn and I walked into LAX this afternoon planning to spend quite a bit in baggage fees, but once we arrived at the check-in point we we're greeted by a man who offered me an upgraded seat and Kristian a free bag which allowed us to save hundreds on baggage costs. I was not overly keen on flying in different cabins but if this allows us to use our money in a better way then I must find it to be a blessing. Besides now I get to sit next to a lovely older woman from Sydney who has offered heaps of advice on my new adventure.

With no doubt God truly has gone before me and prepared the way.

A Quick Look Back

Bags packed, goodbyes said, everything's prepared right? I've read every page I could get my hand on about the place I'm going and the people I will meet, but nothing could ever prepare me for the sudden realization that everything I've ever know and all I am will never be the same after getting in this car.
I am now looking at miles of road as this new chapter of my life continues on. 9 hours in a car and 14.5 on a plane are now all that stand between us (Kristian Krohn and I) and Australia. It is truly an overwhelming feeling to realize that this morning was the last time I will see home for quite some time. However, I take confidence in knowing that no matter the cost or the outcome I'm doing it all for him who called me forward.

T Minus 6!!!

As I sit across a table from my good friend Kristian Krohn, it suddenly hits us both that we only have a total of 6 more days in the states. It is truly a bitter sweat feeling to leave everyone we love and everything we know so well. However the fact that God would lead us this far gives me confidence that he will use this to make us more and more the men he wants us to be.

No matter how much I may mask it I will truly miss everyone in the US greatly. All of the sights, sounds, and smells that make home what it is will become a distant memory as we learn and explore our new home. All in all I am excited beyond reason and scared of things changing.  

The Countdown!

 "³⁸ Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. ³⁹ But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” (Acts 5:38-39)


It is these words that linger in my head as I realize just how close I am to starting the adventure of a life time. 


As many of know my name is James Cole, and I am currently in the process of moving far away to the city of Sydney, Australia in search of Gods will for my life.
Over the last few years God has been pushing me more and more toward Australia. I never understood what good I could do, and still to this day have little idea of what God is going to do through me. But in time I've decided that no matter the cost or place I will give this one life to follow. So in 14 days I step on to a plane and into this next chapter of my life.

During my time in Sydney, I will studying under great Christian men and women at Hillsong International Leadership College. I pray that as I do this you will continue to support me through your prayers. The purpose of this blog is to let you walk with me as I walk with God, and grow with me as I do in Him. 


Thank you for your prayer and support. 
God Bless!