You Lost Me, You Lost The World!

So as many of you know I am very passionate about the world and therefore politics, I am passionate about everyone having an equal opportunity in the world. Today one of my idols Dr Ben Carson is doing something that I am very, very, upset about.

Dr Carson is endorsing Donal Trump (nee Drumpf) for presidential candidacy. This troubles me as Trump does not have the best interest for the world. His tagline ‘Make America Great Again’ is one that promotes his ideals of anti muslim speech, in fact he speaks directly against anyone that does not fit his idealistic view of what an American is (reminds me of a certain infamous german leader).

Now Trump is beside the point. What saddens me that a person that I have looked up to for much of my life has fallen to the political circus and in fact shares many of the same scary views as Trump. I am today a little lost. I have lost a great idol and I am now worried for the future of the world. I guess the best I can do is help out the downtrodden in the world around me and ensure that everyone has as much of an equal opportunity as possible.

I know I am an Australian viewing this from the outside but decisions made in Americe directly affect us in Australia.

So please America wake up and realise that Trump is not the leader the world wants or needs.

Today I am sad, but I also know that I still have Jesus to look up to. #willtherealmanofGodstandup #Americawakeup.

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Illegitimate Fear

The Future. Is it something to be scared of or to embrace. Just the other night I was having a conversation with some friends when it took a deep turn. I stated that I was afraid of the future, Like weddings, kids, funerals… I cannot talk about any of it. This started a chain of thought which got me thinking as to what the root cause of this fear is? Is it a rational fear or is it one that has no legitimate cause or reason? I have really had to stop, think and process this idea and I think I am beginning to come up with an answer.IMG_4665

The first part is acceptance. Subconsciously I am consistently worried about being accepted for who I am. Lets be honest here, I am weird, socially awkward, have high functioning autism and am quirky in pretty much every respect. I personally think that it would be pretty hard to accept me for who I am. This is not a legitimate fear as I have a plethora of friends but it is one that I have nonetheless. Society and media have set in place constraints on being a ‘cool’ or ‘normal’ person in todays world. These are silly but they do affect all of us in some way. Further to this I have a want to have a girlfriend which whilst awesome is something that I can probably wait for. Whether it be finding the right girl or the right time for me. As part of this however I am fearful that I will never have a girlfriend as no one will accept me as I am with all of my weirdness and issues.

Is this legitimate, perhaps or perhaps not. Either way it is something that I have a great level of internal turmoil about. The future is my single greatest fear, however when I stop, think rationally and process it I realise that my fears whilst substantial in the human context are nothing to be worried about in the Godly context. The bible says that God has a plan for everything and that through him all things are possible. I know that God has a plan for my life and I just have to live for him and things will have a way of taking care of themselves. I am hugely excited for what the future hols in my life and I simply need to stop. Listen to God and let him take control of my life.

Andrew Pratt 2016

Be Real, Stand Out

Youth. The target audience of everything in today’s society. The social media generation who are more socially connected than ever before. Just last week, Facebook‘s 1.59 billion users were separated by only 3.5 degrees of separation which means the old adage of 6 degrees of separation is being challenged by the modern world. With such an increase in

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Facebook’s study on degrees of separation

interconnectivity throughout the world, it can only be assumed that we are all part of a digital looking glass which comes with a whole bevy of positives and negatives.

How Do I Stand Out Today?

 

With the wash of information flowing across the screens of youth’s today there is a need to find a way to stand out. This is becoming increasingly difficult as more and more services and methods of communication are introduced into the fast changing world that we are a part of.  So what can we do to can we stand out in the modern world? What changes can be made to enable the youth of today to connect and latch onto life enhancing information that is being fed to them? Religions, youth centres, social services and youth workers all face the same issue. How to be a safe haven and stand out amongst the pipeline of information. It is a question that must be addressed before progress in the modern world can be made.

Many people instantly jump to the conclusion that technology is bad but rather than being negative about such technology, the proposition must be made that in the modern world technology is here to stay and we need to use it to our advantage. 

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Technology is everywhere. We must embrace it!

By doing this youth can be reached directly where they are, rather than by trying to reach them from outside the bubble of the current reality of their world. We are in a world where there is a need for real interactions between people in a meaningful way. Accomplishing this is the challenge.

 

Be Real, Be Authentic, Stand Out

The generation of today have a brilliant ability to tell if you are authentic or not, so the number one thing to do is to be authentic no matter what. Further to this you should always be true to what you do, post or talk about. The modern generation is the most educated generation ever and as such you should ensure that you never aim your content down at youth. Aim straight, we are smart, we will engage if you talk to us like we are people.

Standing out today comes down to being real and authentic, it is honestly as simple as that. There are so many unauthentic people and things out in the world today that by being real you are guaranteed to stand out and make a difference in the interconnected tightly knit world of today.

Are You Authentic

Father Son Rule?

In the AFL the father son rule is a rule that enables the son of an AFL player to be automatically drafted or picked for a team that his father played for. This has enabled some of the greatest players in the AFL to have a lasting impact on the game over many generations. Some of the greatest examples of this is for example is Gary Ablett Senior and Gary Ablett Junior. Both of these sportsman had extremely successful careers, 428296-e72bb2d2-ff3b-11e4-a44b-5c351aa4c1fdhowever it is not just genetics, it is an intentional building of skills that enable a strong growth in all skill aspects necessary to play AFL at the highest possible level. The same idea can be applied to faith. Intentional father son interactions help build the toolkit of a child to enable them to be able to grow up with the necessary spiritual building blocks to enable them to have a strong religiosity with a greater chance of staying in the church.

Fathers as the example

Fathers, fathers are the single most influential figure in their sons life and further to this sons model their morals, ethics, beliefs and hobbies directly of those of their father. A fathers son is his greatest legacy in the world just as Jacob fathered 12 sons each of whom became a leader of one of the 12 tribes. The impact a father can have through mentoring, loving, encouraging and discipling their son is immeasurable and it is through the impact of good father figures that the world itself can be changed.

Perhaps the single most important part of a sons life is the impact their fathers spirituality has on the way that they act in the world. Children and teenagers are the best lie detectors and today they are constantly striving for authenticity more than any generation past. Study after study is today finding that parents are the most important factory in ensuring that the transmission of faith between generations is successful and ensuring that this happens is essential to keeping kids in the church.

Now don’t just think that fathers are only essential to faith transmission, fathers are essential to the value system of kids and also to a child’s larger identity. Personally when I look at my life I see many things that are not related to spirituality or my religiosity however theIMG_0549.jpg man I am today is largely thanks to the relationship I have with my father and also much of my identity to the point of 13 was based off both my parents and the way in which they each related to the world. Even today as a young adult I model much of my adult behaviour off of that of my parents. It is this fact that highlights the importance of the presence of both parents being active and present in a child’s/young persons life.

“People in the church talk and preach of this Jesus however the actions that people do and many of the words they speak do not reflect the Jesus that they associate themselves with.”

Are You Authentic?

Every single day young people often referred to as millennials (EUGH). However no matter how one refers to them they are turning their back on the church every single day. People are now finally beginning to ask why and as a member of this very group of people I am here to say that we have realised the sheer number of people within the church who are not authentic. We read in the bible that Jesus served people no matter their position and that he preached being disciples, loving everyone equally and not rejecting people based on sin or political position. People in the church talk and preach of this Jesus however the actions that people do and many of the words they speak do not reflect the Jesus that they associate themselves with. Millennials see this as fake and inauthenticity is the single most repulsive thing to the most diverse, interesting, hard working, educated and accepting generation in history.

So what must we do, we must be real, we must ensure that parents are aware that their children are watching and their actions now determine the spirituality, religiosity and value system of their children in the future. The saying ‘it starts at home’ takes on a new meaning and we have the family model everywhere in the bible right from the beginning. No family is perfect, however one that tries is better than one that is plastic. Remember dads you right now are determining the future of our world.

Andrew Pratt 2016

Summer Heat and Cricket

Summer in Australia…. Heat, the realisation that asphalt has a liquid form and CRICKET. No not the insect, the sport. Cricket is in my 100% biased opinion the best sport in the world closely followed by AFL (Australian Football League). Cricket is a sport that almost every Australian stops and takes the time to watch or at the very least gets involved with. In fact in my opinion cricket is one of the essential building blocks of our culture. This love of Cricket transgresses society right into my psyche to the point where it is an annual ritual that is taken with the utmost importance. Along with this comes the attending of games whether they be test matches, one day internationals, T20s or the Big Bash League. This year I have already attended a Big Bash Game and it was AWESOME.

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Dad, my sister and me from left to right

My dad, sister and I all took off in the early afternoon towards the SCG and hour and a half south of our place. It is here that we joined around 20000 other fans to watch the first home game of the Sydney Sixers season. Due to the fact that this game was an afternoon game we had to deal with the heat and unrelenting sun that is the Australian summer however that was only a minor inconvenience that we had to deal with whilst watching the cricket live which featured some well known Australian players including Nathan Lyon, George Bailey, Shaun Tait and Brad Haddin. The game was awesome and the Sixers enjoyed a comprehensive victory largely thanks to Nathan Lyon and Brad Haddin. Who spun and hit the Sixers to victory.

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In Australia cricket is synonymous with spending time with family and friends. By all enjoying cricket we all get to spend time together cheering for the same thing and booing at the same things. It is a time where backyard cricket is prevalent and families enjoy the rivalry of bowling an uncle first ball whilst letting the young cousins get out 4 or 5 times before finally taking the bat off of them. Get outside play some cricket and remember that spending time with your family is the aim of this season.

Christmas

Christmas! It is nearly here, 4 days away in fact. Therefore because I am simply being completely lazy I have decided to chat about christmas in my family. My family has the great and awesome tradition of coming together for christmas. In fact we always get together for christmas. Past years have included adventures such as camping during christmas and simple things such as just having christmas day together at a family members house… It is this that really highlights for me the magic of christmas.

Families are possibly the most perfectly imperfect units we have and yet they are a fundamental part of our growth as a human. If we can’t handle our family how are we ever going to handle to real world. As such christmas is important as it enables a family to do away with their differences and simply come together as one for the soul purpose of giving and being together.

In Australia our christmas ideas are vastly different to the rest of the world. White christmas… What is that? In Australia our christmas usually involves time spent out on the water or at the beach, You are unlikely to do that in much of mainland america. Further to this Santa and a sleigh is wildly impractical for Australia. Santa needs a trusty, rusty Holden (or Toyota) Ute along with a sheep dog to keep the livestock under control during the 40 degree celsius (not fahrenheit you fools) scorcher that is christmas day. Further to this in Australia snow angels are not going to happen. A bit of Backyard or Beach Cricket is called for. Even our Eskies (coolers) are designed with cricket in mind.

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The Cricket Cooler with inbuilt stumps

For me personally the best christmas I have experienced was last christmas where we were camping as it provided a time for us to connect over waterskiing and simply having fun. It is a rare thing for my entire family to decide to go and do something such as camping together and as such I love it when it does happen.

So I am going to ask the question. What are your families favourite christmas traditions?  Let me know because our Australian ideas are likely different to the rest of the world.

A Year In Review

My Hebrew Bible being read alongside the actual bible.

It is official. I have finished my first year of my degree. Already, 1 year is done. It is crazy to think that I have already completed ¼ of my degree. This year has been all about growing up and learning how to adult which is possibly one of the most petrifying things in the world. So in doing this I have decided to take a look at the things that have happened this year and how they have impacted me.

  1. So the first major event that happened this year was starting my degree. There was massive amounts of uncertainty as to what to expect and what expectations there were on me. Further to this I was able to navigate my first semester of study successfully.
  2. The next major event of 2015 for me personally was developing in regards to my ability to read other peoples emotions. With my High Functioning Autism I often find it difficult to respond to emotions, I am able to pick up on the emotions present but it is my response that is lacking. In my degree in ministry and theology I need to be able to picky up on peoples emotions and the developments I have made in this area have been extremely significant.
  3. I learnt another language. In semester 2 I had to learn Hebrew for one of my subjects and this was accomplished successfully. This is a big thing for me as something such as languages is something that I would normally struggle with however my hard work quickly paid off.
  4. Completing the first year of my degree. This is a big moment for me as it proves that I have been able to adjust well to the new expectations that are involved with tertiary education and it also proves personally that I am definitely capable of anything that I put my mind to.

2015… It is almost over, December is already here and when I look back on 2015 I think I will always see it as a time when I achieved things that I will forever be proud of. Heres to a bright, fun and enjoyable 2016 to come.

Hard Work is Never Shameful

Throughout my relatively short 19 years of life I have often had one overbearing emotion. Shame or embarrassment of things I have worked on whether it be my YouTube videos or my writing or my positive test results. I have often wondered why I feel this and I have come to the conclusion that this feeling often comes from the fact that this shame comes from the Australian culture of tall poppy syndrome in which we tear or put down people that do well or achieve great results. As an Australian this culture is engrained into the very fabric of my existence and as such when great results are achieved it is second nature to want to hide or suppress these achievements so that I don’t feel torn down or degraded. I guess you could say that the feeling of a person in this situation is overriding fear.

  
Due to my love of video creation I have recently begun to watch a YouTube creator by the name of Casey Neistat and through watching his videos and Vlogs I have begun to realise that my hard work is something that I own and no matter what others say it is ultimately the risks that I have taken and the effort I have put in that gives me the results that I can be proud of. Personally I have high functioning autism and throughout my life I have had to work extremely hard to have a level of normality and to remain focused. Many assume that autism makes a person dumb, this is not the case, in fact most people with autism are extremely smart but it is their social perceptions and skills that are lacking. This leads to one of the biggest achievements in my life, the ability to maintain and have relationships with people and to be able to sense the other persons emotions and feelings.

Now that I am in tertiary education and am transitioning to life as an adult it is important for me to own my achievements and to be proud of them no matter what other people feel and believe about such achievements. The greatest achievement in life is to be proud of each and every achievement one makes.

Learning a Dead Language?

This semester at college as part of my Bachelor of Ministry and Theology I have been learning how to speak hebrew. Now yes Hebrew is still spoken today it is yet a relatively dead language that is not of much use to a person other than being a cool party trick. However there is a use for knowing and understanding hebrew and to the normal person it may be a little left field.

My Hebrew Bible being read alongside the actual bible.
My Hebrew Bible being read alongside the actual bible.

So my bachelor of ministry and theology will result in me being a fully qualified Seventh-day Adventist Pastor (minister of religion) and as such I will be expected to have an understanding of how to appropriately interpret the bible. Now the old testament was written in hebrew and as such in order for a fully informed interpretation of the bible to be made it is essential to understand what it means in its original language. Therefore by learning hebrew I have gained a valuable skill necessary for the job that I will hopefully have in the future.

the old testament was written in hebrew and as such in order for a fully informed interpretation of the bible to be made it is essential to understand what it means in its original language.

Hebrew is interesting as in order to understand hebrew you need to understand english language conventions while also having the unique and uncanny ability to do away with the logic behind the english language. Hebrew is weird to an english speaking person in that the subject and verb can appear anywhere in the sentence and in any order. This creates confusion when transliterating the sentence.

So is hebrew a dead language? Hebrew is a language that is still used throughout Israel and in fact arabic and hebrew both come from the same root language of aramaic and as such hebrew is perhaps not as dead as it may seem. Throughout many languages in the world we can see a hebrew influence particularly in english with many of our words origination from hebrew and the guttural sound of German is thought to have been influenced by the sound of the hebrew language.

Perhaps I am not learning a dead language and rather language whose influence on the world is still emanating throughout the world today. No matter the result it is important to note that no language or tradition is truly dead unless its influence on the world can no longer be seen.

A Little Look Back at a Crazy Month

March has been one crazy month for me. In the first week of March I started my degree and as soon as I started I had assignments due all over the place and this has not stopped since. As I began to get used to college I realised how much doing a degree changes how you do things throughout the rest of your life.

The campus wide hour of relaxation

The enjoyment that I get out of simply relaxing now that college had begun is simply enumerable and doing thing such as taking an hour to relax with friend is important due to the non-stop writing that has engulfed my life.

By the second week of college I was in the routine of handing my weekly assignments in and getting everything done. However I was also organising my trip out to Moree where I do service activities along with a team that I run. There is lots of things out in the communities out west that are vastly different to the privileged lives that those of us on the coast of Australia experience.  

   

As you can see above we flew out on a 4 seater Cessna. It was an awesome day where Less of peoples eyes were opened to the situations of people in western NSW. 

After that weekend I have spent most of my time writing and researching in preparation for all of my essays that will be due before I know it’s

In all honesty the past few weeks have been extremely busy and it is going to take a while before it settles down.

The Unprepared students starting college survival guide… By an unprepared student

For me college starts on monday and to be blatantly honest I am really unprepared. After quite literally doing nothing for the past 4 months I have come to a point where I should be organised and ready for college starting in order to begin my undergraduate course however I am 100% unprepared for what is about to happen. now don’t get me wrong it is an exciting time and everything is going to be fine but it is scary when you log in to your account online and see all the assignments, readings and study guides sitting there taunting you about what the future holds.

So I have come up with an action plan in order to get ontop of things so that I am ready for monday.

  1. Print. Print like you have never printed before. Lots and lots of printing of those necessary readings and study documents are a blessing when it comes to being ontop of everything when it comes time to write your first assignment.
  2. Start putting every single important date in your calendar. This will enable you to keep track of every single thing that you need to know and when things are due.
  3. Get your folder in order so that you can keep track of any handouts that may be given to you. Collate these into the appropriate subjects as soon as you get home that day.
  4. Make sure that you know every single form that needs to be filled out before your course starts and also be aware of any special requirements that you may have for your course.
  5. Prepare your mind for an information overload after only having to take in the details about TV shows for the past four months.

As the commencement of my course looms ever closer the amount of information I need to take in is getting ever higher so I have taken to writing everything down in a diary so that I can keep track of everything. I wish each and every one of you out there good luck as you embark on the next journey in life and please enjoy it as much as you can. You only get these oppurtunities once in life make the most of them while you can.

Watch my video below on this very subject for more.

 

© Andrew Pratt

 

The Cesspool of Words (An Unpopular Opinion)

If there is anything that inspires a dislike of individuals in Australia more than the politicians and the animals it is the media. Here in Australia I have come to have a sour taste in my mouth from the media due to their poor journalism and flashy clickbait articles. It has come to my attention that the media particularly in australia has a bad habit of interfering in politics rather than simply reporting on it. In particular the most guilty culprits of this is Fairfax and also NewsCorp. NewsCorp which is part of the Rupert Murdoch monopoly has participated in such buzzfeed articles as:
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It is such articles that insight the rife speculation that Abbott’s days are numbered. Furthermore the media  particular Murdoch’s companies have been pushing to turn the tide of public opinion. It is this that has most angered me. Rather than simply reporting the facts and letting the public decide news companies in Australia are more closely associating themselves with the fake world of tabloids rather than news companies as particularly shown in the reporting style of news.com.au which is a part of the fairfax family.
news.com.au is just one of the many guilty parties that are using clickbait style headlines to draw readers attention straight to the articles that support the political agenda of the company. It is the pushing of this political agendas that has contributed to the downfall of our previous two prime ministers in a massively Un Australian move we as a nation did not allow our Prime Minister to put into effect policies that may have had a positive impact on Australia forever thus eliminating any chances of our country developing into the prosperous nation that it should be. So lets not make the same mistakes that we have made in the past.
news.com.au is just one of the many guilty parties that are using clickbait style headlines to draw readers attention straight to the articles that support the political agenda of the company.
In summary we don’t need to wipe our politicians of the map. Let them work it out even if they are behaving like clowns. Instead we need to wipe our media organisations out and start fresh in order to curb the cesspool of idealogical agendas that the Australian media has become.
Andrew Pratt

One thing that I have begun to notice is that my yard has some of the best photo opportunities and as I have been learning more and more about photography I have been managing to find amazing things around my yard to take photos of. For example my parents have a rose garden and the roses are currently flowering producing amazing colours that we don’t often see naturally. I love observing different colours and changes in the environment largely thanks to my neediness when it comes to physics and biology. Therefore a lot of the photos I take are taken in order to satisfy this neediness or for future reference.

IMG_9991Other things that are around my yard includes my geese and ducklings that have free roam around my backyard. Many people are afraid of geese as they are protective of their territory however my geese will only get upset if you are not one of my family or if you go into the backyard without me as they have imprinted on me. However the goose is extremely friendly and will take her time to investigate new people. As shown by her inquisitive look below.

Female Gosling
Female Gosling

The interesting aspects of my yard is something that has always captivated me right from when I was a young kid and I think that the ever changing environment in my yard is something that will keep captivating me right through to the future.

Andrew Pratt

The Little Things

As I write this I am rushing about to fulfil everything that needs to be done both for the final part of my school career and also for other commitments that I have. However with all of this rushing around there are a lot of things in life that I simply glance over and never take a second look at. However I have realised that one such opportunity that I have to slow down and look at the small things in life is through my Camera viewfinder. It is when I am taking a photograph that I notice all of the minute details that we as people are constantly seeing yet willingly ignoring.

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In the image that I have posted along with this post you can see all the fine and minute details of the flower and this flower takes up such a small piece of space in the wider view of the world. Personally I believe that taking the time to stop and watch the little things in life is one of the most important things to do. We are often so busy that we miss a lot of things in the word. For example when I rush out the door in the morning heading off to work I often miss things such as flowers that have just come out or I forget things that I am meant to have done or need. Thus I am challenging myself and you to stop and take time out to catch up on the things in the world that we as people usually miss.

The Future I Look For

Now that I have pretty much finished the HSC I have decided that I will become more active on all my social media websites and pages including Youtube, Tumblr, wordpress and Twitter. This means that everyone will be able to interact with me more than ever before.

So my last HSC exam is physics this friday the 31st. After that I am free…Well at least until I start my tertiary education in order to obtain a degree. What do I want to do with my life? This seems to be the hot button question at the moment. So without further ado this is what I want to do with my life as I grow up.

I am going to be studying a bachelor of ministry and theology at a college just down the road from where I live. By studying this I plan to become a pastor for the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Now many people have asked why I want to do this? The answer to this question is that I want to effect real change in peoples lives throughout the world. Through ministry I have seen people change and be moulded into better people thanks to the word and promise of God. The main reason however for me doing this is that I believe that it puts me in prime position to help people when they are at their lowest points in life. Thus I am going to study to become a Seventh Day Adventist Pastor.

Now before you switch off due to your initial perception of me and what ministry is. Ministry isn’t all about what the world would have you believe. Ministry has much deeper reaches within the world. Ministry in its most basic form offering a helping hand to people in the world who may need it most.

ministry is an important part of everyones duty in the world.

It is for this reason that ministry is an important part of everyones duty in the world. Ministering to people is something that everyone in the world has an opportunity to do and it does not have to be in a religious sense. This occurs by simply offering people a hand or just simply smiling in the street and spreading general positiveness amongst people in the world. Creating a cohesive community environment through positiveness amongst people is key to creating a positive world that we all would want to live in.

– Andrew Pratt

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