Andy Mac

Photo by Rosan Harmens on Unsplash.com. In a previous post , I mentioned how God was calling me into a sense of leadership, but not the sort of leadership I had done before. A few months ago, the Morley Salvation Army had its 50th Anniversary event, a bunch of events over nine days. What a powerful time it was! The last Sunday of the events was entitled " Looking Forward "; after the message, there was a call-and-response time lasting longer than 20 minutes! What a powerful time! During this time, I asked for prayer, and someone prayed that God was telling them I would be a leader of people for God. Wow! So not only was this prayer prayed over me in 2021, but now, in 2024, the same prayer was prayed over me by a completely different individual. Two times in my life, what a coincidence! However, I don't think it is a coincidence. You would think that after the first time, I would just surrender all and say, " Yes, God, send me! " But I didn't. To be honest, I...

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash.com. This is taken from my devotion time that I wrote and shared during a Band Practice: I've been thinking about leadership for the last 3 or 4 months, before taking on the Band Sergeant role. Some of you would know, but for a while now, I have been searching for something more, something that God could use to fulfil what he has planned for me. Going deeper, having the faith like Peter to step out of the boat with my eyes fixed on Jesus. When we had the Prophetic Prayer event here during the three weeks of prayer, I heard from two people separately that God had a plan for me in some leadership style. It was "nothing like I have ever done before", being that I had been a leader at Fusion, I had run Corps Cadets, helped out in Junior Band and even been a Youth Leader, but God was calling me into some form of leadership which was different from all of that. I wasn't sure what that looked like, how it fit into my life, or how my life f...

Photo by Sebastian Dumitru on Unsplash.com. This is taken from my devotion time that I wrote and shared during a Band Practice: I don’t know about you, but when I play a piece in the band, I like to look at the words I am playing, and the reason for that is that I find when playing the words (using what’s written) but when playing the words it gives the song some further meaning and gives the song some spirit more than just “ playing music ”. We would all agree that the songs of Gowans & Larsson are deeply secured in the fabric of The Salvation Army’s history. Their work, together with having written ten musicals, remains quite an achievement by anyone’s measure. There’s a song from their first venture together in the musical Take Over Bid, which has been on my heart for a bit, and I found it to be a challenge as well as a wonderful piece. The piece is Someone Cares. In an interview, John Larsson was asked, " You are a writer. Did you ever collaborate on the song lyrics?"...

Photo by Paris Bilal on Unsplash.com. I was sitting at work today and couldn't help but think of this song. You see, at my workplace, I am known as a Christian. I try my best to live up to the standards a Christian should, but I can't help noticing that, as a way of life, we sometimes fall short. In those times, we need the Lord. This song starts off by saying... Everyday they pass me by, I can see it in their eyes. Empty people filled with care, Headed who knows where? This is so true, is it not? On they go through private pain, Living fear to fear. Laughter hides their silent cries, Only Jesus hears. This also is true. I feel the way of life is that if you are going through a rough time, bottle it up and hide your emotions, but instead, as Christians, we should release that pressure in the bottle and give it all to God. Sometimes those 'silent cries' can be loud, but often, in a time of need, they are quiet or silent. This next bit, I love so much! People need the Lor...

Photo by Kane Reinholdtsen on Unspash.com. If you're not sure what's happened over the last few weeks, I will fill you in. In my last blog entry, I explained how God has used my life over the last (almost) 11 months and impacted it in ways I could never imagine. For me, Public Speaking has always been one of my fears. Sure, get me with a group of people, say a maximum of 10, and I am fine, but get me up on a platform in front of heaps of people, and that is a different story. You see, when I was in High School, I used to try and skip the moments we had to give a presentation in class by "going to the toilet" because "I was busting". There was to be no toilet stuff happening tonight because God wanted me to speak; that is for sure. I look back, even after giving my testimony about how much God has helped me over the last period of time, and I am amazed; there is no other word for it. I have totally come out of my shell from my first time in Morley, and some a...

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unspash.com. I don't really know what to say; I am not a man of many words, but I pray and hope my words in this entry may help someone else. I am the sort of person who hides his emotions and keeps to himself a lot, which can be a bad thing sometimes, but when I blog, I feel like I can't stop myself from letting the words come out. It's weird, I know. First, I know people are praying for me regularly, nationally and internationally, and I am thankful for that. I came to Easter Camp this year, expecting to find something, just something, that I could take back and use to help me in my walk of faith. I had not been to an Easter Camp for ages so it was going to be different and those 2 or so years I have gone to Easter Camp were for other intentions for example the difference in music however, this year I wanted something more, I wanted something to relieve and revive me. I'll stand up and be honest when I say that I was far from a "good...

Photo by Lan Gao on Unspash.com. I was watching some Michael Jr. comedy tonight, and something stood out and spoke to me. For those who don't know, Michael Jr. is a Christian comedian, and his jokes have to be clean enough for church but funny enough for a club. He was doing comedy at a church, and then we told everyone a story. He was up early one morning writing jokes, and the word 'House' came to him, and he told everyone his vision, and it goes as follows. It's as if we're all a house and outside of the house is Jesus and he wants to come in but he will never force his way in the house. He wants you to invite him in the house and a lot of people are ok with having Jesus outside the house because then all you got to do is open the door, cracked a little bit and tell him what you want. Then you close the door and go on with your business but he wants to come in the house and one of the main reasons you will not let him in the house is because your house is a mess....

Photo by Alexander Mils on Unspash.com. For those who can't access the site, I have copied my blog entry here. Who remembers that saying, “It’s not about if you win or lose, it’s about how you play the game”? Well, I have been watching the Olympics the last few weeks, and unless someone got gold, it was deemed to be a ‘failure’. I find it rude. All throughout school we are taught that it’s not about winning, it’s about having fun, but now we get taught unless you win you are a failure, what the? It is great that God accepts us as his children for who we are; no matter how much bad stuff we have done in the past, God forgives and forgets. Something that we as Humans find hard to do is forgive people for wrongdoings. People in my lifetime have done wrong to me, and I have forgiven them because I feel that if I do not forgive them, how could God forgive me? My family and I as your aware (if you have been reading my entries) had a problem at one church, which resulted in my family leav...

Photo by Frank Holleman on Unspash.com. There is a song out there that goes as follows; When we walk with the Lord  in the light of his word, what a glory he sheds on our way! While we do his good will, he abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share, but our toil he doth richly repay; not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross, but is blest if we trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. But we never can prove the delights of his love until all on the altar we lay; for the favor he shows, for the joy he bestows, are for them who will trust and obey. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at his feet, or we'll walk by his side in the way; what he says we will do, where he sends we wi...

Photo by Henry Hustava on Unspash.com. For those who are unsure, I've been in Melbourne since 03/02/2011, and I'll be here until this coming Friday. Some amazing things have happened, and there has been fun and laughter. It's amazing to see God's work here in Melbourne. I woke up this morning after what I would call a weird dream. I dreamt it was a Youth Meeting at Floreat and I was preaching, when I preached I brought up the topic of the uniform (one of my loved peices of clothing) and what it represents and this got me thinking. (Oh, and by the way, Liesl and Ben, don't get any ideas yet... I don't want to preach at a youth meeting... yet 😛). The uniform, in my honest opinion, is a tool equipped to Senior Soldiers that everyone should use, but not everyone does. I come to church on a Sunday and can count more than 2 hands full of people in that room who are Senior Soldiers and don't wear their uniform, or don't wear it as often as they should. I remem...

Photo by Griest Projects on Unspash.com. As I write this blog entry, I am at my desk, on my laptop, waiting for phone calls at work. Not a single call for an hour. This morning at 9:29am, my uncle called me from down in Bunbury. I picked up the phone, happy I was at work on time and happy I would get to see Poppa down in Bunbury this weekend. My uncle explained to me that Poppa had passed away about 5-10 minutes ago (it would have been 9:20am then). We spoke for a few minutes, then hung up as he went to notify more family. Immediately after the call, I started sniffling, and my colleagues asked if everything was okay. I then balled into tears and explained what news I had been informed. I am thankful to God for my Poppa. He was someone I held in high regard. It was clear he loved his Lord and would do anything for Him. Something Poppa used to say to us all before he went into a nursing home was these words (ad-lib) Whenever the Lord needs me, he shall take me. When I pass away, I will ...

Photo by Monica Melton on Unspash.com. I was reading a book written by Commissioner Raymond Finder entitled "Going Further for God". Poor Commissioner was bombarded by people wanting him to sign their books, and I was one of them. Something very nice and uplifting he wrote in there as a comment was, "You are a good man. Live well for God". I continually say it, and I keep my word, but isn't it amazing how God can speak to us? I was reading a passage of scripture and it said, ‎" Who preachers are is the main thing, not what they say. A genuine leader will never exploit your emotions or your pocketbook. These diseased trees with their bad apples are going to be chopped down and burned. " Matthew 7:16. I own an online small community, and today I was impacted by one of the 'volunteers' words. Whilst broadcasting on my radio, he said: "Everyone in the room, thank Andrew for all his hard work, as if it was not for him, you would not be tuned in...

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unspash.com. I've been watching Kyle-XY over the past few days/weeks, and something has been standing out to me. Something I (like Kyle) could not understand. God speaks to us in amazing ways and this was one of his ways through the Kyle-XY series I have on DVD and the remaining ones i had not got as yet which I watched via youtube. I guess you can call me a Kyle (short for Kyle-XY) freak, but hey, it could come in good use sometime. I sat back thinking about how much the creators of this revealed a sense of godliness in their movie. For me, movies somehow reveal something new about my faith. God has an amazing plan for us all, and I know he is not yet finished with me. God spoke to me immensily through this film, see for years and years I have not read my bible. Sure, I have read the Bible during the sermon (via the PowerPoint displayed on the screen), but never actually sat down and read it. Also, for a few months now, I haven't been praying ...