Ouch!

One of these days, I want somebody to tell me how to open things they sell in those hard plastic packages, without cutting myself.

This was made especially difficult this morning by the mozzie bites on my hands that made it awkward using the scissors :-(

Panania Anglican Church

Exciting

Exhausting

Friendly

Overwhelming

Welcoming

Generous

Just some words to describe my first 3 weeks at Panania Anglican Church. Praise God for his people there.

Bring back winter!!

I know that anybody who is reading this from Victoria or South Australia would be justified in telling me to get over it, but I just want to say that I am really tired of summer!

I've always preferred winter - I figure that you can do something about getting warm in winter (eg move around, put more clothes on, etc), but there's only so far that you can decently strip off in summer - and sometimes that just isn't enough!

Add to that the fact that my room is an oven that just stores the heat that it collects from its north-facing wall, and you find me really struggling to cope with the heat.

When we're not even getting decent drops in temperature overnight and haven't had a cool change come through for a couple of weeks, my room just seems to be getting hotter and hotter - especially if I shut the door to go to bed at night.

My friend who lives across the corridor came into my room after breakfast one morning last week and complained that it was so hot just standing talking to me! She has a south-facing external wall and her room is generally 5-10 degrees cooler than mine!

My recurring fear is that one day, God will decide that he's really going to test me and move me to a tropical region (because humid heat is FAR worse than dry heat).

In the meantime, I am grateful that he provides us with seasons, and try to keep reminding myself that this heat will not last forever, that winter will, indeed, return one day, even if there are days that I think that is just too far away.

Obama's Inauguration

I was discussing on Facebook today, my amazement at the response of Australians to Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th president of the US. I have never seen such a reaction amongst friends to a new Australian Prime Minister - I mean, I could name several people I know who got up at 3am to watch the inauguration live to air.



Please don't mistake my reaction for disinterest or apathy for what has happened in the last 24 hours. I know that this was a landmark in many ways, not least because Obama is America's first black president (particularly poignant the day following Martin Luther King Day). It is also, of course, worth noting that people are really hoping for change in an America that is currently economically unstable. These things do matter.



However, can anyone remember the last time that Australian TV stations ran 7 hours straight of telecasts of the swearing in of a new Australian Prime Minister? I would have quite happily watched a repeat of the inauguration speech to hear what Obama had to say, without getting up at 3am or watching a further 7 inane hours of people walking down roads in Washington. One of my friends on Facebook argued that questions could be asked about 7 straight hours of cricket - for five days in a row - as well (good point, I have to agree!).



I guess my greater concern about people's response to Obama is that there seems to be enormous expectation and hope placed in a mere man. No doubt, he is an amazing orator. Hopefully, he will be a good leader - of America and the greater western world. However, he is not God and it would be wrong to expect him to be the saviour of America, let alone the rest of the world.



God has provided us with a Saviour already - his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus died on a cross 2000 years ago so that we could have our relationship with God restored. Through this, we can know that we will have eternal life - a life that will be without sin or decay.



Now, that's a hope that's worth holding onto!

Beginnings at Panania

On Sunday just gone, I started as Student Minister at Panania Anglican Church. It was a full-on 14-hour day filled with people and conversations - and, needless to say, thoroughly exhausting. However, it was also exciting to start to get to know people and work out how I would be serving God in his church at Panania.

For those who don't know, my brother did a couple of years of student ministry at Panania Anglican about 7 years ago. In fact, it's where he met his wife! Although the staff team has completely changed in that time, there are still plenty of people there who remember Dave and Steph and were keen to tell me of some of their memories of them. It was actually novel to have one couple say to me, "So, you're Wendy's sister."

This change of church will also mean a shift in focus for the ministries I'm involved with this year. I will be co-leading a Years 7-9 group at the 10am service, spending time with some families over lunch, mentoring of younger women during the afternoons and being involved in the 7pm service.

It dawned on me last week that I had not been regularly involved with an evening church for more than 10 years - and I suddenly felt rather old! However, I have to say that I really enjoyed all of the services on Sunday, including the 7pm, and I am looking forward to getting to know people better.

PS I am, however, missing the great friends I have left behind at Shellharbour City and am looking forward to hearing how they are going.

Next Gen conference

I spent last week up at Katoomba as a strand group leader at the Next Gen conference - and what a week it was!!

Next Gen (formerly known as Katoomba Youth Leadership Conference) is a 5-day training conference for those involved (or wishing to be) with the leadership of youth or children's programs in their churches.

It is an intensive week, with talks both morning and evening, strand groups to teach how to write a Bible study or children's talk and afternoon workshops. There is little time to rest but lots of fun to be had.

I attended a couple of KYLC conferences in the early 90s (I know, that says a lot about my age!) but have had no further involvement until this year.

I have to say what a joy it was to be reminded of the value of this conference. It not only provides sound Biblical teaching both morning and evening (this year the talks were by Grant Retief and Carl Matthei), but also allows delegates to think through some of the practical aspects of leading their groups.

It was an enormous privilege to co-lead a strand group who were there for their second year and helping them understand biblical theology. Thanks to Ben for the opportunity to serve alongside you and learn from you; thanks to Jesse, Jessica, Sally, Trudy, Rachel, Matt, James, Billy, Drew, Helena, Jasmine and Marty for the privilege of getting to know you all. I pray that God will strengthen and sustain you in your ministries and that your knowledge and love of him will continue to grow.

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.