Update and Prayer Points

Wow!! It really has been ages since my last post and I feel there is so much I should be updating!

After Mission, we had 3 weeks' break from college. It's always worth reminding people that college breaks are not really holidays. Invariably, we have assignments and essays that are due during our breaks and there is always reading to catch up on. This means that I sometimes find it difficult to schedule proper time off where I actually give myself permission NOT to do any work - because there is always something I could be doing!

These holidays, I had the privilege of housesitting for the lovely Jane at Concord for the whole of the break. It gave me the freedom to spread out while I wrote my Old Testament exegetical paper, room to walk away from the table I was using, a lounge to sit on to relax, opportunity to eat breakfast in my pyjamas and the chance to leave my toiletries in the bathroom for 3 weeks!

It was exciting to be able to spend Good Friday down in the Illawarra. I caught up with old Shellharbour friends at church and over lunch before spending some time with my parents then with my god-daughter and her family. With not having made it back down to Wollongong since I left there just before the New Year, it was the longest time in my life that I've ever been away. Seems strange to be away for such extended periods now!

I also had the opportunity to get away for a couple of days up to the Hunter Valley with my sister. Her Christmas present to me last year was to take me up there for a couple of days over the Easter break. Despite a little bit of rain, we had a lovely time visiting some wineries, galleries and various shops.

Since returning to college, things have been pretty crazy! We had our Greek half-yearly a couple of weeks ago, a 3000-word Church History essay to hand in 2 days ago, another 3000-word Old Testament essay due 9th June, followed by another 3 exams. Doesn't exactly leave a great deal of time for other things!

In amongst all of that, I have been a big, allergic, sneezy, sinus-y, headache-y, coughing mess for the last two weeks (which was particularly fun during the Greek exam!). Trying to face all of the things on my plate while being in an allergic fog exacerbated by an inability to get a proper night's sleep, has made life more than a little difficult. Whilst the sinus and the headaches have eased up, the rest is still causing me some grief - something I'm now more than a bit tired of (as, I imagine, is the girl in the room next door!).

Please join me in praying for the following things.

Praise God:

• for the opportunity to remember and celebrate the death and resurrection of his Son, so that our relationship with him can be restored


• for time with family and friends over the college break


• for the blessing of opportunities to house-sit


• for the privilege of sitting under the amazing teaching that we have here at MTC

Pray:

• that my health will return quickly and that I'll be able to return to some normal sleeping patterns


• for the ability to focus on the work that I have to do and to be able to prioritise appropriately while remembering to ensure that I consider how God wants me to change my life as a result of what I'm learning and not neglecting relationships with those around me

Last One!!!

Yesterday afternoon, I completed my final exam for the year. 3 hours of Doctrine was an exhausting yet exhilirating way to finish.

I've really enjoyed Doctrine lectures this year. It has been great to think through my understanding and knowledge of God and this world.

I expect that next year's lectures will be much more challenging but, for now, here are the questions I wrote on yesterday afternoon. If you want to talk any of them through, let me know - more than happy to discuss them!

• How is it possible for human beings to 'know God'?


• 'The Trinity is an impractical doctrine of relative unimportance.' Discuss.


• '... of infinite power, wisdom and goodness.' Consider the meaning and implications of this description of God.


• Respond to the suggestion that 'penal substitution' is unjust.


• Why must Christian believers take seriously the bodily resurrection of Jesus?

So, what's next? Well, today we have our final chapel service for the year, lunch together as a college and a high tea for the first year girls this afternoon. I'll spend a few days in Shellharbour early next week before coming back to college for much of the holidays.

I'm looking forward to reading for the sake of enjoyment (even re-reading some of my textbooks, just because I can), enjoying time to watch some movies, doing some scrapbooking, catching up with people, attending a silly number of weddings, doing Christmas shopping and even cleaning up my room and getting into Greek summer assignments!

In the meantime, I will be preparing to finish up at Shellharbour City, starting at Panania in January, attending CMS Summer School and assisting at Next Generation (previously known as Katoomba Youth Leadership Conference). As much as I first thought the holidays would be difficult to fill, now I'm pleased there at least seems enough time to fit things in.

Well, off to prepare to face today and all its celebrations!

Mission Foundations Exam

Well, here's a first - I walked out of the exam smiling!

Mission Foundations is a subject that looked at the biblical theology of mission before looking specifically at how people have engaged in mission since biblical times. It has been a fascinating subject, one that I've felt I could sink my teeth into.

The questions I wrote on were:

• In what ways did Paul's conversion launch him on a path of world mission?
• What is the message of the book of Revelation for world mission?
• What relationship does action for social justice bear to proclamation of the gospel?

All that's left now is the 3-hour Doctrine exam tomorrow afternoon - it's a BIG ONE!!!! Wow, are we nearly done?

Philosophy exam

For better or worse, I have finished my Philosophy exam. I have to admit that I've really struggled with Philosophy - the ideas seem so enormous and, quite frankly, weird or even useless. So, although I've done some hard work on it (maybe not as consistently as I should have?), I went into the exam feeling as though I really wasn't sure about any of it. On top of that, I'd had my first bad night's sleep in the last couple of weeks (praise God that I've had such great sleep over the last few weeks) - I've been awake since 3.43am!!!

This exam was different to the others in that we had some idea of what the questions would be before we went in. In some ways, this seemed to increase the pressure of feeling like we'd really need to know what we're on about for this one. Additionally, I think everybody was a bit surprised that not all of the questions seemed to particularly resemble the ones we'd been told. At the very least, they tended to be narrower in scope, meaning you had to understand a particular part of the question you'd prepared for.

The questions I answered (or attempted to answer at least) were:

• How successful is Plato's ideal republic when it comes to formalising the relationship between the One and the Many?
• To what extent did Augustine's challenge to the skeptics enable him to make judgements about the Truth?
• How successful is Kant's categorical imperative when it comes to making moral decisions?

Whether it was the tiredness, the anxiety I was trying to keep under control about Philosophy, or that I still really don't get it, I left the exam about 15 minutes early because I had simply run out of things to say about Augustine and Kant. To my surprise, especially given I was in tears over Plato on Saturday night, I felt able to answer that question quite well.

Well, no time to dwell on it too much - still have 2 more exams in the next 3 days. Better get to it!

Church History exam

At least today's exam didn't seem as bad as the New Testament one. We needed to do 3 essays and there were 3 questions that I felt really comfortable with - couldn't hope for better really!

This year's Church History course focused on the early church, from the time of the apostles up to the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The lectures have actually been really interesting - I just wish I'd had more time to really absorb some of the detail

For those who may be interested, the questions I answered were:

• Evaluate the claim that Constantine's Christian faith was little more than a political expediency.
• What advances did the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed make?
• Discuss the legacy for the Christian church of Augustine of Hippo (355-430).

Now, to start looking at Philosophy - my real nemesis if there is one amongst my subjects. I don't get it!!! Please pray.

New Testament exam

Our New Testament exam was this afternoon and it felt much more difficult than the Old Testament exam on Monday.

Throughout the year, we have been studying Mark's gospel, Paul's letter to the Ephesians and Peter's first epistle.

Part of my problem in the exam was that I seemed to draw a mental blank on almost all of what I had learned about 1 Peter! I couldn't remember the structure I had memorised and, in a panic, seemed to then forget everything else about the book!!

Anyhow, see what you think of the questions I attempted:

• How does Mark's structure assist the telling of his story?
• 'Your faith has saved you.' What is the relationship between faith and salvation in Mark's Gospel?
• 'Four Gospels. One Jesus.' Explain the advantages and disadvantages for Gospels study, of having four Gospels.
• How does the Christology of 1 Peter serve to motivate readers towards doing good?
• In what ways does Christ change human relationships, according to Ephesians?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Now onto study for the Church History exam on Friday!

Old Testament exam

Just to let people know that I survived my Old Testament exam this morning.



The following are the questions I answered - feel free to ask me about them sometime.

• What is the purpose of the book of Deuteronomy?


• What made David's reign different to Saul's?


• Why does the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament contain so little reference to the particulars of Israel's history?


• 'The book of Daniel is about wisdom.' Discuss.


• A Christian, troubled by the marginal notes in his Bible, poses the following question. Provide an answer: 'If we are not certain about every word of the Old Testament, how can we be certain about any of them?'

Five essays in three hours - my head and my hand hurts! Oh well, time to move onto preparing for the New Testament exam on Wednesday.

One Year Down - Well, Almost!

It's hard to believe that I have already finished lectures for the year! Where has my first year at college gone? Although it still seems daunting to think of another 3 to go, if they all go this quickly, then it will fly by.

Presuming I pass all my exams (maybe that's a big presumption at the moment :-)), the year will be completely over in less than 3 weeks. In the meantime, however, I still have 6 more exams to face, with 24 essays to write in them! 24 essays!! That's still a lot of information I need to absorb during the next couple of weeks.

Please pray that I will be diligent in my studies, that I will be able to keep in perspective the fact that lots of others have done this before me and survived (and that my salvation and worth as a person do not depend on my results at college) and that all the students will be supportive of and gracious to each other during this stressful time.

Most of all, please pray that I will be excited by what I'm learning, that it will not be a merely academic exercise and that God will be working in my life as I learn and understand more about him.

PS for details of my exam timetable, see my post dated 23 September.

Prayer Points

Firstly, apologies once again for the lack of posts over the last few weeks. As a way of updating you a bit on what's happening in my life at present, I thought I'd post some prayer points.

Praise points

• Praise God for the baptism yesterday of my niece, Jessica.
• Praise God for the opportunity to celebrate my nephew's second birthday and to spend time with family yesterday.
• Praise God that I survived the Greek exam on Friday and the crazy lead-up to it.
• Praise God for a terrific night's sleep last night - best one in several weeks!
• Praise God for the fabulous friends that he has given me and for their encouragement and support.
• Praise God for sending Jesus to die for us.

Prayer points

• Pray that Jessica will grow up to know Jesus as her Lord and Saviour. Pray that the adults around her will be faithful in telling her of God's love for her.
• Pray that I won't forget to keep on top of my Greek over these next weeks and months so that next year won't be a shock.
• Pray for diligence and the ability to study well for the other exams that are coming up.
• Pray that my studies won't be merely an academic exercise, but that I will be aware that I am dealing with the living word of God, which can change and refine my heart.
• Pray that we students will be gracious and loving with each other as we approach exam time.
• Pray that I will continue to get appropriate rest and refreshment so that I can apply myself well when I am working.
• Pray that I will be able to work out living arrangements for the time of the college holidays (with a minimum of stress).

Thanks for your ongoing support in this area.

Fourth Term

Firstly, apologies for not updating my blog recently. You'd think that I'd have had more time to write during my holidays but it just didn't seem to be the case!

I spent the majority of the two weeks at my brother's place in the Lower Blue Mountains - a great opportunity to have some space from people and not have to live in community for a little while. The first of those weeks was spent writing an Old Testament essay, looking at what happened to those left behind in Judah during the Babylonian Exile in the 6th century BC. As tiring as those essays can be, I quite enjoy the research and the opportunity to explore a topic at more depth.

The second week was spent catching up on some sleep, catching up with some reading, catching up with some family and making sure that I took at least a little bit of time off before returning to college. It was capped off with a great weekend at Women's Katoomba Convention (more about that in another post).

Fourth term at college started yesterday and it's a little difficult not to start panicking about all that is coming up. Our Greek exam is a little over 3 weeks away (!) with 8 more exams following. The thought of exams is more than a little terrifying but I'm trying to keep in mind that many others have gone before me in this and, what's more, have survived.


Prayer Points

• Praise God for the break that I've had
• Praise God for the fantastic talks at WKC
• Please pray that I will apply what I learned at WKC and that it will lead me to be more godly
• Please pray that I will prepare well for my exams over these next few weeks and that I won't be overwhelmed by it all

Exam Timetable

• 17/10/08 - Greek
• 31/10/08 - Biblical Exegesis and Exposition (Jonah)
• 31/10/08 - Biblical Exegesis and Exposition (Pastoral Epistles) - take home exam due
• 10/11/08 - Old Testament
• 12/11/08 - New Testament
• 14/11/08 - Church History
• 17/11/08 - Philosophy
• 19/11/08 - Mission Foundations
• 20/11/08 - Doctrine