Kenya tomorrow!

Well the time has come for us to hope in three planes, and spend the month in Kenya telling people about Jesus, and helping them out. Check out www.myspace.com/foxfires for updates as the month goes on.

Rowan Returns

Today Rowan returned to our church, Rowan used to be one of our assistant ministers for quite a number of years, a big part of that was with the youth at our church.

He was very inspirational for me as I was going through the later part of high school as a Christian, and I (along with the rest of our church!) was very sad to see him go.

He left to be head of the 'EU' which is the Christian group at Sydney Uni, and by the sounds of things, God is very much at work through it which is very exciting to see.

It was very encouraging to hear Rowan preach again and also to be able to catch up with him. God as given him an awesome gift with preaching, he always does it in a very clear way, and is always overflowing with energy which is pretty much impossible not to absorb if you are sitting in the congregation. I also love his sense of humour.

I think tonight made me realise how much I miss him - although in saying that I definately wouldn't want Stefen or Peter to leave either! They are awesome too. God blesses us in many different ways through different people, each person can do many things in a unique way that will bless others in the way God knows is best.


I had a bit of a panic attack when I thought I had lost my keys, I got to church and found a hole in my wallet... and no keys! What confused me though, was that the hole only led to inside the padding of the wallet, and therefore they couldn't have dropped out. I fished out each coin from the padding, each time hopping it was the keys, but alas, they weren't in there.

Upon returning home I found that I had just left them in my pocket on Friday.


Oh yes, and the Big Year 13 Kenya Supporters Night is up very soon! Be there... or don't!

Kenya! (Norway?... More Like Snoreway)

Upcoming fairly quickly are two different things that are going to be promoting our mission trip to Kenya:

* First off is Youth Church (5pm) and Evening Church (7:15pm) this Sunday 13th May.

Both services are going 'African', some form of African food is going to be there (Morocan Chicken at Youth Church - thanks to Chris from Year 13 who is going to kindly help), and the supper at Evening Church is going to be African themed thank to the bible study doing it that night.

Also at both services I am going to be interviewed, a DVD is going to be shown, a chance to support the mission with prayer, and another night is going to be pushed... that night is...

* The Year 13 Kenya Mission Supporters Night

This is on Thursday 31st May from 7pm - 9pm at Menai Anglican Church. This is a special night for all the Year 13's, where we will be telling everyone what we are going to be up to in Kenya through various forms (music, dramas, interviews... puppets!). Also a chance to support the mission financially and in prayer.

Everyone is very welcome to come to either of these!


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I've been very tired recently, it all started last week after bible study Monday night, I went to bed kind of late, took a while to get to sleep, then woke up after about 3 or 4 hours cuddling my blanket which was entirely under my sheet... this confused me enough so that I was not able to go to sleep again.

And I haven't really caught up on that lost sleep as of yet, college always exsausts me, add onto that kids club and yr 6 - 8 youth in the afternoon of college and I'm pretty much stuffed. Usually I can use Saturday to recharge, but last Saturdaythere was Children's Ministry Conference. It was really good - great combination of teaching, practical ideas, and hanging out with others from my church, but it left me even more tired, I slept for 12 hours that night.

I though I had finally caught up, but I've hit the wall again, and unfortunately this week is a biggie... I've got a few things to do to prepare for the Youth Chruch and Evening Church Africa things mentioned above, I'm doing the yr 6 - 8 youth talk this week, and still got a fair amount of college homework to do... I'm stressing a bit...

KYCK 07

We came. We saw. We played stomp.

As expected Kyck (without the start!) was awesome. The talks were very good and were actually all quite challenging from the word go. The theme of this year was 'Follow' and was focused on chapters 9 - 19 of Luke.

A big thing that came through the talks was the cost of following Jesus - that of giving up everything to put him first in our lives, and the implications of doing that. We need to 'count the cost' before we make the decision. But the decision is very worthwhile! The most important one a person will ever make... ever. We need to live our lives focussed on the life to come - that which we will be living in heaven eternally with God and all of our brothers and sisters in Christ!

Something that got me quite excited was after one of the talks they had a reflection time where they got the youth to think about how they can follow Jesus at school. It was very cool to hear the ideas that many brought up.

Something else I've found exciting is that of seeing God at work in the lives of the youth at our church. This isn't something that just came up at Kyck (I may have mentioned this in the blog before too), but it was something that stuck out to me yet again. Its great to see the many ways they are using their variety to serve God and others.

I really loved the music this year - the past few years have been good but I defiantely found this year's to be the best. I thought it was led very well, and it was great to sing along with and enjoy the talent that God has given them. One of our own - Ben Ackland - was also in it!

And of course, the rest of the time was just as good. There is a fair amount of time over the weekend, particularly Saturday, where we are able to just hang out and enjoy each other's company. This always helps Youth Church grow even closer as a 'family', and it was no different this year. As Brooksie said when we gave me a lift home from church on Sunday, being in a community of belivers is a small slice of heaven. Coming together to grow to know God better as a community - its one of the closest things we can get to heaven! In Brooksie's words: there's simply nothing else like it.

So overall a very very worthwhile weekend. The only bad thing that came out of it is that I now have a sore throat...

I'm praying that God will work wonders through both the youth and leaders - through us growing both in our relationship with God and our friendships with each other.


(Click for bigger picture)

Easter Craziness

Had a crazy Easter at church:

Youth Church serive Thursday night - went well, was the first Youth Gospel Choir performance.

Good Friday service at 10am, followed by practice for choir for the Easter Sunday 8am service. - I think I actually had a bit of burnout at this point. First time I really noticed it... going to have to look out for that.

Saturday was filled with nothingness, so was a great opportunity to recharge and get rid of any traces of burnout.

Sunday was my first 4 service Sunday. I was in the 8am choir for Easter Sunday, then I helped out at the 10am all-age service by being on 'Activity Sheet and Crayon Hand Out' duty for the kids.

I then went home for a bit before going back for the Unofficial Youth Church hangout thing I was trying out. It ended up going great - had 8 people, which wasn't huge, but still a great number! I personally found it a really encouraging and relaxing time and others said they enjoyed it as well.

Then had Evening Church and supper afterwards. So a good day overall - but very tiring.

Monday I then had a family gathering over at Como (Hey Jason!). And that ended the Easter Craziness.

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Since then I've been doing nothing - which has been awesome!

I've started playing through Kingdom Hearts again. Its a game featuring a bizzare crossover of Disney franchises with Japanese anime-like characters... which results in a very entertaining, nostalgic, and epic game.

For a look into its awesomeness - just imagine being able to fight as your character against Barbosa from "Pirates of the Caribbean" with Jack Sparrow, Donald Duck and Goofy by your side. Or how about going back to the old-school black and white Mickey Mouse world to fight alongside the old Pete, against the modern-day Pete!... Maybe you have to be a bit of nerd to find that cool, I'm definately a nerd, so in my books, it is quite the coolness.

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Kyckstart is coming up this weekend! Really looking forward to it. Also looking forward to see how God works through it in his amazing ways.

CPR (Can't Precisely Remember)

We did the Senior First Aid Course at Year 13 this week. I actually found it extremely hard to concentrate throughout pretty much the entire thing, the only thing I could think about was my desperate urge to go jump into bed and sleep for a few hours. (Though as usual, I had woken up completely by night time... I showed some other Year 13er's Cold Rock at Cronulla).

But even though I was only 50% concious the entire course, I am theoritically able to give CPR to someone if they suddenly fall over and stop breathing. I say theoretically because I doubt I would remember what to do, especially when someone is actually not breathing as opposed to faking it. Hopefully I'll remember it though - but it'd be awesome if the chance to remember never happened. Hear that everyone? Don't stop breathing, and don't die. Thanks!

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Went to supper after church today - Jason did as well - we usually can't make it because of being a bit geographically challenged, but Lara and Mark very kindly gave us lifts home which was awesome.

It got me thinking about the group of ex-Year12's. At our youth camp at the beginning of the year I got to hang out with quite a few of the ex-Year12's which was great, and I also got to know some of them who I didn't really know that well before.

Unfortuantely I've found that in a regular week there isn't much of an opportunity to catch up with them, seeing them after EC is great, but the time really flies. Some of them lead the yr 6 - 8 youth, and Kids Church (at which time I am still in my half-asleep zombie-like state) but apart from that there isn't really many times.

Hopefully some more opportunities will come up in the future.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympics

http://www.aussie-nintendo.com/?v=news&p=12172

...?








Mario and Sonic in the same game = must buy... this is a historical event!



But... at the Olympics? Could this possibly get any more random?!? (Its random in a very good way though!)

A Big Thank You to my Readers!

A few people have told me that they are reading my blog! Thanks heaps everyone, knowing that people are reading it really helps me to keep doing them. And as this is something that they recommend for Year 13 it helps me with the course.

If you have been/are reading the blog, I'd love you to leave a quick comment so that I know who's reading! You can do that by clicking the 'comments' link at the bottom of each post.

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Two Friday's ago two of the girls from one of my scripture classes came to our kids club! (I help teach scripture with one of the ladies at my church). It was heaps exciting and they seemed to enjoy it.

THEN last Friday, not only did they come back, they also brought another girl along! On top of that, a guy from my other scipture class came along as well! All four seemed to enjoy themselves, its really exciting to see them forming friendships with the other kids and leaders there.

My prayer is that these friendships will continue to grow and that they will learn a lot from the talks as well, and that God will be at work in their lives so that they can come to know Him.

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I really enjoyed church tonight, I feel really blessed with the church family I am in. I really enjoy being a part of the Youth Church congregation (although its as a leader - it really doesn't feel that different to being part of the youth at all!) Its so encouraging to see all the youth growing in their faith. Today Rob's talk involved them thinking through the passage themselves and picking out some of the main points, and I was very excited to see them all working through it enthusiastically.

I'm also really blessed to be part of Evening Church - there are many people who I look up to in the congregation. There are also a great bunch of my year group as well - quite a few of us actually. Got to spend some time with them at our youth camp earlier this year which was awesome. Haven't had heaps of time to chat with them much lately as I usually seem to find myself running around after church looking for people I need to speak to about certaint things, but I'm hoping there will be a few more opportunities soon. One such opportunity is that Mark offered me a lift home from supper next week, which assuming it all works out, should be quite awesome. Thats another thing I've been really blessed with - people willing to give me lifts. Its amazing how many people are willing to give me a lift home from various things even though it will take half an hour each way for most of them.

Overall, I think our church is doing great with showing God's love to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. As always, there is room for improvement, unfortunately there are probably some people who aren't feeling as welcome or loved as they should. I know I definately feel very blessed though - and I think it was the awesome display of everyone's love and drew me in all the way back at the youth camp in 2004. And to think... if it wasn't for that, there's a very good chance I wouldn't be doing Year 13 at all! The way God works is amazing.

Current Thought Bubbles

Hmmm... its nearly a week without posting, I think I've been fairly tired most nights that I've actually been home to do a blog. I am also fairly tired now, but here are the current things on my mind:

* I've got my first Year 13 assignment due in soon, its about the Christian view of work... should probably start looking into it soon!

* Tonight Pup asked me if I'd like to try running a full Clay night, seems pretty scarey but I might try the one in two weeks...

* I also had a thought in the middle of Evening Church tonight: maybe we could have a 'pre-Kyckstart' meetup where we start thinking about the theme of Kyckstart this year (the website says that they are going to put discussion questions on soon, so they could be quite useful.)

I was thinking that this could be done at normal Youth Church time, then maybe we could go grab dinner before Evening Church. I mentioned the idea to Rob which then sparked the idea that this could be something for Youth Church in the holidays:

A time to hang out casually at normal Youth Church time, maybe have someone give a short devotional message, maybe some time of discussion and prayer, before getting dinner and EC. I'd be heaps keen to give this a try, I always thought it was a shame that YC had to stop during the holidays. The leaders having a break is fine - I fully think they should have a break - but it'd be cool to have something small where the youth can still meet up together.

Don't we look pretty?

Check it out, on the right side of the screen, I present to you, Year 13! (Assuming the picture works).

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Had the first 'real' bible study today, I'm in Peter and Rachel's group. I really enjoyed it, we are looking at Collosians. I just realised that I haven't really been in a bible study for a few years now, I'm really glad to be in one again.

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I was reading the book for Biblical Theology and I found something quite interesting... but I think I'm too tired to explain it at the moment. Maybe tomorrow!

The 12 Hour Church Experience

I was at church from 9:30am till between 9 :30pm and 10pm today.

9:30am - Set up and meet for Kids Church

10:00am - Help with Kids Church

11:30am - Hang out with a few YC people who are also at church, includes going down to Maccas. (*)

1:30pm - Help get ready for gospel chior practice.

2:00pm - Gospel chior practice

4:00pm - Music practice for Youth Church (**)

5:00pm - Youth Church (***)

6:15pm - Dinner at YC, hang out

7:15pm - Evening Church

8:30pm - Hangout

9:45(ish)pm - Leave


(*) - It is quite remarkable how girls can instantly be amused for hours if they have a camera.

(**) - Panic started as we thought our sound system had stuffed up again. The awesome sound guys quickly set up a back up plan with lots of amps. The problem ended up being that the speaker leads weren't fully plugged in...

(***) - I led the service at Youth Church today, apparently it went well, despite the fact that I was feeling fairly exsausted and stuff.


So overall, good day, just heaps tiring.

An Alternate Reality

Semi-Day Off Blog:

I just watched the second episode of a documentary on the history of video games. It supposedly covered the period of the NES to last generation consoles. I say supposedly because, while it did rest on some truths, it didn't quite reflect what actually went on in that time period.

First off they started by saying that Miyamoto was one of the first people to create videogames that centred around a hero - namely Mario in 'Donkey Kong' and 'Super Mario Brothers', and Link in 'The Legend of Zelda' and that was all well and good.

After that was when things started going downhill.

The 16 Bit Era

Their view: Video games then needed to be more 'mature' and powerful. So Sega brought along the Mega Drive which was much more powerful than the NES. Along with it they brough Sonic the Hedgehog - a character that had much more of an edge than Mario, and would apparently be more likely to 'give you the bird'. Nintendo was then virtualy forgotten. This generation was also driven by adult content.

Reality: Both Sega and Nintendo improved on their previous consoles with the Mega Drive and the Super Nintendo. Mario and Zelda have continously kept selling millions of games. Sonic did have a bit more of an attitude than Mario, but saying that he would give you the bird is a very very very very big overstatement, and Sonic was just as colourful and "childish" as Mario. Nintendo actually came out on top in the battle against Sega this generation.


The Playstation Era

Their View: Video games needed to be more realistic and powerful yet again. So people started playing more realistic games, and non-realistic games ceased to exsist. Sega and Nintendo were both long forgotten (the show then constantly made jokes comparing these realistic characters to Mario.) Playstation single-handedly brought a new 3D world to gamers, where they could live a completley new experience.

Reality: People played both 'realistic' and 'childish' games throughout all console generations. Both Sega and Nintendo kept going through this generation. Nintendo actually brought the 3D world to life with, ironically, 'Super Mario 64'. More Mario games came out this generation than any before it. Realistic games aren't always superior to the 'childish' ones. Although Playstation did come out on top this generation, Nintendo deffinately weren't forgotten, and their Handheld business was still alive and kicking.


The Playstation 2 Era

Their View: Now that players had gotten really realistic games (and of course, that was all that they were playing as well), players wanted emotion. So games became more... emotional? Nintendo is non-exsistant, and the thought of controlling a moustached man collecting coins is laughable. Playstation and X-Box are all there was.

Reality: Emotions being the big drive of this generation?... Riiiiiiiight. While Nintendo defiantely didn't do all that well on the console front, they were still dominating the Handheld market with ease. They actually exsisted. And people didn't just play Grand Theft Auto all the time. It was a very popular game... but you know... other games did exsist as well.


Phew, I feel a bit better now.

I can't say I had very high hopes for the program, the site for it said that his favourite video game character was Master Chief from Halo... come oooooooooooooooon. And while I can't remember what his favourite old-school game was, it all added up to scream that all this guy cared about was "realism", and "mature games". And of course this view defiantely showed. Though I'm still finding it hard to understand how he forgot that Nintendo didn't actually stop exsisting 20 years ago and that Mario, Zelda, and even Sonic are still alive and kicking now, hardley forgotten. While Master Chief... I'm sure he's pretty cool, but honestly, I really doubt he will last the test of time.

Shoes of Readiness

Wow, Clay (yr 6 - 8 youth group) went really really well tonight.

I've been stressed for the past few days about the talk I had to do for it. It isn't the first talk I've done there, I did some last year, but I was really struggling with it throughout the week.

It was about the 3rd piece of 'Amour of God' found in Ephesians 6, - Shoes of Readiness for the Gospel of Peace.

The power of prayer really worked - quite a lot of people were praying for me at Year 13 and stuff. I defiantely wasn't feeling too good about it beforehand - even had trouble printing it! But God prevailed and it was defiantely through him that the talk actually went pretty good!

They also seemed to respond quite well - many of them were asking very good questions - even touching upon some of the things the world has been saying about Jesus recently (such as 'finding his body'). And a lot of them seem keen in the recently started up junior girls bible study and the 'coming real soon' junior boys bible study.

The rest of the night was good fun - the theme was 'Lost' so we all boarded the plane made out of chairs, Gogs and Kate were the air hosteses, Mark was the pilot, Biar was the navigator. The plane crashed, Kate and Gogs subsequently 'spilled' drink all over Josh'. Good times. The kids then got lots of 'injuries' (such as not being able to use their left leg) and then play lots of challenges as a team.

Also tonight was Youth Church going to Putt Putt Golf - I was a bit dissapointed that I wasn't able to go to it, but Clay was still a fantastic night anyway!

The Real Genesis

As I've continued reading through the book of Genesis, something has really stuck out to me in a way much unlike a needle in a haystack. (Unless of course I had just taken a seat on the said needle in the haystack, at that point it would probably be a whole lot more noticeable.)

I don't think I ever noticed the ammount of corruption there is in the family of Jacob. I've read through Genesis at least two or three times before (in some of my attempts to read the bible cover to cover - which usually ended at Leviticus or Numbers). But I don't remember noticing it.

First of all, Jacob ends up taking two wives (though not all his fault - he was tricked). It isn't long before the double-marriage shows its toll as Leah and Rachel start fighting, because Jacob loves Rachel more, yet Leah is the one giving him sons. In the race for providing more sons than the other, they each give Jacob their maidservants so he can father more children.

Many years later, Jacob's children end up murdering an entire village, granted the reason they ended up doing this was a fairly major one, but that isn't an excuse for it at all.

It kind of makes it come as no surprise when they sell Joseph to the Egyptions later... its actually kind of a surprise that they do that instead of murdering Joseph like the villagers.


Yet through all this, God still remains faithful to the promise he gave Abraham. And it is through this bloodline that the ultimate fullfilments of God's promises are seen in a man.

Falling Up

Today is my day off. I thought that on my days off I would blog about something unrelated to church or Year 13.


One of my favourite bands at the moment is Falling Up. They're a Christian 'Alternative Rock' band, so far they have released three different albums.

I actually just got their first album, 'Crashings', last week. I've been listening to it a lot in the time I've had it, and I've found it interesting how each of the albums offers something unique compared to the others. (And I will attempt to explain how they sound different and stuff)

'Crashings' seems to have what I would assume is your standard rock setup, it has your electric guitar pumping, your drums, your bass, all that stuff. It's done in what I would describe as a slightly heavy manner, not heaps heavy like when you can't understand anything that is being sung, but still fairly heavy. The lead singer has a pretty unique voice, and he seems to have recorded quite a few tracks which contain many different harmonies, but the harmonies aren't done in a way that they are immediately obvious. In the lyrics booklet each song is accompanied with a passage from the bible to help explain its meaning. The topics of the songs range from the need to rely on God's love instead of the broken love the world offers, to the danger of being mislead by false teachers.

'Dawn Escapes', their second album, keeps many of the main features of Falling Up, yet shows that they have matured since their first release. Although I do quite like the more raw feel of 'Crashings', 'Dawn Escapes' brings with it an atmosphere that gradually makes its way through the album. Many of the songs are driven by simple piano melodies that last only a few bars, yet add a lot to the song. Some of the songs even stray from using the traditional electric guitar setup. Their song lyrics have also matured since their first release. While each song is again provided with a bible passage to accompany it, it isn't always obvious what the song's message is. For many of them I'm still not quite sure what their message is, but I have found it interesting to think over the lyrics every now and then to give it some more thought. Overall I think the album's message is need of living with Jesus as our saviour, and the need for God as a solid foundation in our lives. The cover of the album supports this, as it shows a house built on sand gradually bring destroyed by the waves of the ocean.

'Exit Lights', their most recent release, is actually a remix of some tracks from their first two albums. Three tracks are from 'Crashings', seven are from 'Dawn Escapes', one is a completely new song, and there are also two instrumental interludes. The album contains a lot of diversity in the approaches taken in remixing the songs, some remain in largely the same arrangement with a different take on the music accompaning it, while others are changed dramatically. While it does provide a very different feel to Falling Up's usual style, I really like this album too. Part of the reason may very well be because it makes it sound kind of similar to video game soundtracks...

The First 'Killer Friday'

Today I had my first 'Killer Friday'. A Killer Friday consists of:

* Waking up at College, breaky at 8, classes start at 8:30.

* College finishes at 2, go straight to church.

* Friday Hangout (yrs 3 - 6) starts at 4. Finishes at 6.

* Clay starts (yrs 6 - 8) starts at 6:30, finishes 8:30.

On top of that, today after Clay was the last part of Erin's bday party, which was good fun. It was all good fun actually, just really exsausting. As a result this blog probably won't be very comprehensive.

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I'm really enjoying the studying aspect of college so far - kind of surprising given my track record! I actually am geniunely interested in pretty much all of it, and find it very easy to listen and take notes. I'm interested to see if I can keep this up - and to see how I perform in comparison to last year where I pretty much had no interest at all in anything except software.

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Erin's party was heaps good fun (the part that I was at anyway - Clay overlapped some of it). I'm really excited to see the people of Youth Church so excited about hanging out together, and organising their own times to hang out as well! This is something that this year's Eclipse (youth camp) seemed to encourage. Youth Church has always enjoyed each other's company. But Eclipse this year seemed to being Youth Church together even more as a whole group, and its really exciting to see the results God is bringing out and continueing to use.

One of the worries I had of leaving YC and becoming a leader was that I wouldn't have that same connection with everyone there. I am very pleased to say that the connection hasn't gone, and I still feel like I am part of the group. I am really thankful to God for that! Its an awesome bunch of guys and girls, I am really excited to be able to continue hanging out with them this year, and also working with them as part of Year 13.

Quick One Today

Just a quick blog today, need to get ready to leave, some of us are going to an RSL near the college for dinner. Although apprantly there are big delays on the trains...

I need to get better time management skills, I'm coping at the moment, but it wouldn't hurt to get better.

An example is me trying to rush to do a few things before I leave in half and hour...



By the way, no blog tomorrow, will be at college.

Kenya Believe It?

Some of the homework we were given after the Orientation House Party over the weekend was to read an information pack telling some of the details of the mission trip to Kenya, which take place for the last bit of June and most of July.

I have very mixed feelings about it. I'm excited, scared, interested and kind of overwhelmed all at the same time.

We'll get to do some pretty cool stuff, like do a gospel presentations in some schools, visit some orphanages, among many other things. Lots of opportunities to serve God and use our gifts he has given us in a completely different enviroment! We will also get to go to a youth group and some church services over there, it will be great to meet some people who believe the same thing we do who are on the opposite side of the world!

I've actually only ever been in NSW, the ACT, and Queensland when I was two. I've never been in a plane!


However despite all these cool things, I am quite scared and anxious about the whole thing. Being away from home for a month is more than double the length I've been away before (currently being the Katoomba Solid Rock Cafe mission coming in at 12 days).

And I will miss my church and all the people there very much - I feel so comfortable doing ministry there. Seeing everyone's smiles, talking and hanging out, doing music together, meeting with the purpose of hearing God's word together and encouraging one another. My church family.


But I guess that is even more of a reason to go - the challenge of trusting in God's strength alone, and not relying on my usual environment. The reality is that (unfortunately) I will need to leave Caringbah eventually in the future (though I'm hoping that its not for at least a few more years!). I guess this will be one step which will help when that day eventually comes.

Of course, I won't be going alone anyway - with all of Year 13 there I probably won't get too lonely! Probably just a bit homesick.


One of the things the info pack mentioned was the need to do a fundraiser event at church. Russell and I have had the idea of a fundraiser before, and after the new Gospel Chior meeting on Sunday (which from what I saw at the end, absolutely rocks!) a few of us were discussing the possibility of Youth Church holding a fundraiser in a form of a concert type thing using the gifts of people from YC. Maybe God has already been at work for this! Erin expressed some excitement for it tonight on MSN (happy birthday by the way!), so it seems like the idea has already picked up some momentum! Another info should be given out in a few weeks with more details about what the fundraiser should look like I think.


So yeah, those are some thoughts on Kenya floating in my head at the moment. For a look at another side of Kenya, check out this cartoon.

The Journal Begins

As part of Year 13, one of the things we have to do (or at least is strongly suggested that we do) is have a daily journal. While buying a book to write this journal did have some advantages, the blog seemed the better option for a few reasons:

* If I was writing it down, there's a good chance even I wouldn't be able to make out what the writing says.

* I think I'd probably find it harder to write to an audience of only me.

* Chances are I'd lose the journal at some point.


Blogging it also provides an easy way for people to find out what I'm getting up to at Year 13 if they are interested.


There are a lot of new things to get used to this year - one of them is finally accepting the need for a diary. School always tried to get us into the habbit of using our 'Homework Diaries' and even if I did try to use these as a means to remember what homework I had, having to actually get it out of my bag each time some new homework was given seemed much more effort than it was worth. I could usually remember what homework I had anyway, whether I did it or not was another matter entirely.

I've found that working at the church means that there is a need to remember when many different meetings are on, when you are giving talks at certain programs, times that certain things need to be done by, etc. Currently I have remembered everything but I know I won't be able to keep it up for long. So I'm getting a diary. A nice A4 one. If I can find a nice A4 one.


One of the things we are doing at Year 13 is a 'Bible in a Year' course, in which we read the bible cover-to-cover in the time that Year 13 lasts. This means about four chapters a day, with notes relevant to what we have read written by Don Carson. I'm loving it, I hadn't been too devoted to daily quiet times in recent weeks, and its great to have a system going that will keep me reading each day. I felt amazingly refreshed when we had our first quiet time on Saturday at the Year 13 Orientation House Party.

Don Carson's notes give great insight into what the bible is saying. On Sunday our reading included Genesis 5, which lists the family tree of Adam and Eve. There are many of these family trees in the bible, and I think most people would find it hard to find any relevance in them at all.

Not Don Carson.

Good ol' Don pointed out the repitition of 'and then he died' throughout the chapter. While each man did live a very long time compared to today, it still always ended in their death. This is a problem that wouldn't have happened at all if human kind didn't sin. Yet the eight people who have 'and then he died' following their names make it all to clear that the problem is very real.

However, there is one exception, and it is very easy to just skip over it like I had. 'Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.' (Verse 24) Even this early in the bible God displays his grace in saving someone from death.