Happy New Year

Well, who can believe that another year has gone by? 2008 has been an amazing year for me, personally. From leaving work at Barnardos on 4th January through to leaving Shellharbour City Centre Anglican Church on 28th December, it has been a year that involved a lot of changes. I've survived my first year at Moore College, moving out of the Illawarra, living in community and commuting to Shellharbour for church each week - and through it all, God has remained steadfast and faithful.

As I face more changes, especially with beginning at a new church (Panania Anglican Church) in a couple of weeks, and am sometimes daunted by more change, I can continue to rely on the God who never changes.

In the next few weeks, there is much happening. Tomorrow, I head to Katoomba for my annual week at CMS Summer School - a week-long mission conference, with great teaching and an opportunity to hear of God's work around the world. For a number of years now, my whole family has stayed together for the week but this year will be a little different. My brother and his family will be staying in a house of their own, especially in order to give them the freedom to offer hospitality to others. This means that it will just be my parents, my sister and I in a house together.

At the end of Summer School, I will spend a couple of days at Kurrajong with my brother and his family before heading back to Katoomba to be a strand group leader at the Next Generation conference (pka Katoomba Youth Leadership Conference). This is my first experience of leading a strand group - with a group who is there for the second year! Please pray for Ben (my co-leader) and I as we work through Genesis 11 with the group and help them to see how the whole Bible fits together.

I hope that Christmas was an opportunity for special time with friends and family, but that, most of all, it was a time to remember the birth of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus. I pray that 2009 will be filled with many joys and blessings for all readers of this blog and that Jesus' love will become more real throughout this year.

Busy week

I'm feeling a little like so much has happened over the last few days that I'm not sure what to share first.

The Annual Moore College Lectures have now finished with the final instalment by Dr Mike Ovey being presented last Thursday. It has been so valuable being reminded of our need to repent and that a life of faith is marked by a life of repentance, seeking to become the person that God made us to be.

On the weekend, my church had its annual Houseparty. As we have done in the last couple of years, it was again held partly at the church (Friday night and Sunday services/lunch) and partly elsewhere (all day Saturday at Waterslea on the Shoalhaven River). It was terrific to feel like I could afford to spend time with people from church, just in conversation and over meals, without being as rushed as a Sunday often is.

It was also great to hear from Jim Ramsay on practical ways of connecting with those around us, challenging us to make the effort to be intentional about getting to know people and think about the conversations that we have with them. Given that it is easy to end up cloistered in the college community and forget that the rest of the world is out there, I need to think very deliberately about the opportunities I make and take to have contact with people outside my immediate church and college environments.

I feel very relieved that my Greek exam was over this morning, although there is already talk about preparing for the yearly exam (in about 8 weeks time). However, I've decided that today is not the day to worry about that and have given myself permission to have an afternoon off Greek study. It has been a big relief to know that I don't need to look at that list of words for the rest of the day.

This week is crazy on the Moore College social calendar! Tonight, we have the Moore College Revue - a night, I'm told, that is not to be missed, as members of the college community has the chance to show off their musical, poetic and dramatic talents. On Saturday, Moore College will hold its Open Day and Winter Carnival (contact me if you are interested in coming along).

Prayer points

• Praise God for the privilege of studying here at college and the daily opportunity to be learning more
• Praise God for the SCCAC Houseparty last weekend - for the time to spend together and for the talks that we heard from Jim Ramsay
• Please pray that I will be diligent in my studies and that I will not simply view them as an academic exercise but remember that the Bible is the Word of God