23 Today!!

Yes it has finally arrived - I am no longer "nearly 23" but I am in fact 23. A friend told me of a little girl who said, when asked her age, "I am 4 but I'm still a little bit 3." I though that was just precious and well now I can't even say "I'm 23 but I'm still a little bit 22." :)

We had our BBQ last night and it was just lovely. I had such a great day. There was lots of fun to be had and lots of great friends to hang out with. We spent the day making salads and stuff and it was really just a lovely day. I enjoyed myself thoroughly. I also got some really lovely presents from friends that I just love.

I was preparing myself for a little anti-climax today because I didn't think many people were going to be around but so far it has been really nice. I had breakfast with my eldest brother while taking another one of my brothers to an appointment in the city (I have 4 brothers in case you are slightly confused at this stage). And I will be having lunch with some college friends soon too. I do however have a talk to write by tomorrow morning. I am speaking at Refresh (our mums' group in Dapto) but prayerfully it will come together fairly easily. I have been thinking about it for a number of days now.

The weekend was full of fun!! Friday night a group of us went to Ian's house for a few drinks then I came back to college to hang out with Naomi. We ended up talking about life and boys till about 3am. This meant that we only had about 4 1/2 hours sleep because we both had to pack up our rooms and move out of MAC by 12pm on Sat. But it was most enjoyable and it was great to spend some quality time with her. I think that she is just such a great chick. Well Sat came around very quickly (a little too quickly perhaps) and I moved out of MAC taking stuff to my brothers' house, the Mcphail's and leaving stuff in my car for the weekend. Sat night was Dave Yu's 30th and that was great, then back to Dapto for church in the morning. Church was good. I had lunch at Peter and Cheryl Cosgroves house which was just delightful. Again there was more talk of life and love and all that goes on. It was really great to be able to catch up with them. They had a bottle of Champagne waiting for me as a celebration for end of exams and my birthday so that was fun. It was just a lovely day. Then caught up with Arjha briefly, had a nap, then headed back to church. After church I came back to Erskineville and stayed the night at my bros' house.

I did enjoy my weekend very much and this week is looking to be busy but I am ok with that. Next week will probably be a week to crash and catch up on sleep and just relax. But for now I should write a talk.

It's Over!!!

Exams are finally over!!! Yay!!! And now it is party time!! Well party time started last night and will continue until at least Mon arvo. One long after exams party - very fun!!!

Well after our final Doctrine exam I had dinner, then we went to Kuletos for 2 for 1 Cocktails, then I had to run off and go to my squash Semi-finals while everyone else headed to Karaoke :(. I played and lost and our team also lost but that is still ok coz we get another shot at it next Thursday in the Finals. But I did leave Squash significantly early enough to be able to join my friends a Karaoke World. That was SOOOOOOO much fun!!!!! I loved it. We left there just after 12am and a few of us went around to Maccas. I was a great night. I has so much fun!!!

Hopefully tonight will consist of a trip to a club for dancing, tomorrow night is a friend's 30th in Sydney, then Church Sunday and our Birthday Party Monday. Oh yeah and I have to move out of MAC before 12pm on Saturday. So it is looking like a busy weekend but a lot of fun will be involved.

Ok need to get ready for our final chapel for the year. This will be sad coz I have really enjoyed chapel this year. Well Holidays here I come!!!!!

1 more to go...

Yay!! Only one more exam to go! I left Biblical Theology half an hour early today :). This disturbed some of my friends since it was only a 2hr exam. But I didn't want to be sitting around for 25mins staring at everyone else who was still writing. So I finished as quickly as I could and got out of there. The exam itself was ok. I think I will pass sufficiently. Again my results will not be particularly brilliant but as long as it is over 50 I am happy at this stage.

Now I just have to get through Doctrine tomorrow! Dinner is very shortly then perhaps I will have a little nap and try to get motivated to do some work for Doctrine. Prayer at this stage is really welcomed.

I did go a little crazy after the exam. It was nice to be finished and only have one to go. Tomorrow I believe that I will be even more crazy since I will have 0 exams to go!!!! It is hard to believe that I have almost finished my first year at college. WOW! Only 3 more to go :)

It was Bec's birthday today so we hung out for a little bit - that was nice. Can't wait til our party. It will be lots of fun! Well, now it is dinner time!!

Has anyone seen my motivation??

I appear to have lost my motivation to study at this point. This is not particularly helpful!! I do pray that it would come back. I only have 2 exams to go and I can't seem to scrape together the energy and enthusiasm to study.

It was a friend's birthday today so we went to the local pub or dinner. That was really nice to hang out (and procrastinate as it were). I think that he had a good time too. Another friend turns a year older tomorrow as well and we will all celebrate these occurances next Mon afternoon with a BBQ for 4 of us who will have graduated to the next year of our lives (or will within the week after). I am looking forward to that - however it also takes my attention away from Biblical Theology and Doctrine study.

Only 2 more days and 2 more exams then I am free. However, next Wed I have a talk at our mums' group in Dapto and also a sermon that Sunday. But I do really enjoy speaking and preparing talks and sermons so that will be good.

Some other great news that I found out today is that my friends Paula & Jason McPhail had another little boy yesterday. His name is Ezekiel Jason. I love that name - Ezekiel - it is great!

Anways to bed I go where I will continue to read a little on the person & Work of the Holy Spirit.

Strange...

I think I have hit mid exam blues. I had a great time hanging out with some friends at college tonight for one of the guys' birthday (it was actually nice to be at college on a Friday night). I got to catch up with some old friends and that was really lovely. But then before I knew it everyone was gone and I was all of a sudden on my own. I was in the mood for hanging out with people then somehow I ended up on my own. That made me quite sad. So now I just feel sad :( It is strange how your mood can change so quickly. I guess that's what can happen when you are under the pressure of exams and probably a little sleep deprived.

Anyways, today's exam was fair. It was Church History and I think I did ok. I have had the amazing blessing with these exams to get questions on the topics that I have studied. Form guiding has served me well so far (by the graciousness of God - of course). I guess today I was really thanking God for the great figures of the Church like Athanasius, Ambrose, Augustine (yes they all like names starting with 'A' - it get confusing trying to remember who is who for and exam). If it wasn't for men like these, modern Christianity could be very messed up. Under the sovereign hand of God, he raised up these great men to fight heresies and defend the truth and we get the privilege of reaping the benefits of their hard labour and often martyrdom. Let's pray that we in this generation can stand firm in the truth and defend it against heresies (even if it means giving up our lives) so that future generations can also know the truth of God.

Well I could probably ramble on for hours but I will spare you and get some sleep :) and hopefully feel much better in the morning.

Old Testament? Not a problem!

Old Testament today was quite pleasant. Although sadly enough some of my friends did not find it so. I don't think that I will absolutely kill it but I wrote 4 decent essay in which I knew what I was talking about and 1 absolute shocker in which I had no clue!!! I will definitely pass and perhaps even do well. That would be nice.

I had a rest tonight and will get back into studying Church History tomorrow. I think that when you are doing so many exams in such a short time you need to rest well and take some time out, so that is what I did tonight. Tan and I went to the shop and bought our 2nd year friends some chocolate for a little study treat and went round and visited them and drop them off. They have a Doctrine exam in the morning which will be reasonably difficult. But I am confident that most of them will pass. I was fun (taking them treats that is). I enjoy doing little things like that.

Well I think that is all for me at the moment. I will be sitting CH at 2pm on Friday and will write 5 more essays in that 3hr period. But for now I will sleep and perhaps dream of something completely unrelated to OT or CH. :)

New Testament? Check!

Ok...so I have done one exam and have 5 more to go! NT yesterday was much nicer than I was anticipating. I am confident that I will pass, even if I don't get top marks. I am not very good at writing essays - particularly in exam settings - but I do think that it will be sufficient.

I have been studying Old Testament today. That has been great!! I have been really excited by the faithfulness of our God and how his word is sufficient for us to trust him. He is worthy of our trust and he gives us the faith to be able to trust him. What an awesome God!! There is a bit of angst at the moment regarding the form of the exam but I am not all that stressed about it. It will work itself out.

Today it rained (well is currently raining) and I forgot to close my windows before lunch which has meant a good part of my room is saturated. Very annoying!!!

Anyways, it is time for a quick nap - then back into it!!

Church History!!

I have to confess that at the beginning of this year I was assuming that Church History was going to be one of the most uninteresting subjects. But strangely enough as I was studying it today, I found myself thoroughly enjoying it!! Amount of study from yesterday increased dramatically (by lunch time I had completed more study that I did all of yesterday), however, I still did not do as much as I probably should have. Well, tomorrow I turn to Old Testament.

There was plenty more talking about boys as usual today - always an entertaining time! Tonight a bunch of us (Tan, Naomi, Lis, Izzy, Seumas, Tim, Al & myself - to be precise) hung out on St Paul's Oval (next to College) and drunk Coke and as usual conversation turned to dating stories. This is another of one of our favourite topics as we hang out together. Much laughter resulted!! I have often told my friends that if I was to continue with Psychology I would have created a rival for CBT (Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy) which would be called ILT (Ireland Laughter Therapy). Laughter is good therapy for anything!

Oh also my computer went a bit stupid!! I had to get Dr McIver to fix it. It had viruses and stupid Spyware on it. I also had to uninstall and re-install Acrobat reader and Ghostscript. This took up valuable study time.

:)

Study not going as well as planned. I have found it hard to get motivated - I am too easily distracted.

But this week has been lovely. Two of our friends started dating last night (and about time too). They are so well suited and both such lovely people. That has caused much joy around the place!! There has been much boy talk going on around here lately, but I must say that I do enjoy that.

Early night tonight and will attempt to get up for breakfast (with the help of my alarm clock - Tan) and get into either old testament or church history...have not decided yet.

Study...

Day 1 of Stuvac is over! And I didn't get a great deal of work done. I started with New Testament and was looking at Mark's Gospel. I was really enjoying what I was learning and so will continue with that for a bit tomorrow. I also have to look at Romans for the 2nd component of that course. After tomorrow I will certainly have to move on to another subject and then come back to NT just before the exam.

We also got our Church History essays back today. I got the highest mark for an essay this year (B+) but I was downgraded for handing it in late. But that is still a very satisfactory mark considering the conditions it was written under. The 2 weeks before that essay was due were phenomenally busy. I ended up starting the essay on Thurs (due on the following Mon) but then I got sick on the Friday and had to lead a service at church on the Sunday morning. I ended up handing in the essay on the Tues morning about 10am but the policy at College is that you loose one grade for every week or part of. So I lost 1 grade but I am still happy because I thought that it was a terrible essay.

So today has been quite pleasant. We watch last weeks episode of 24 this afternoon and then the episode on TV tonight. There is only 1 hour left and each hour is quite action packed (I may be somewhat addicted to the show). It was very exciting. So that will take up one hour on Friday perhaps (as it will be on TV on Thursday night).

The other thing that has also been supporting my procrastination has been the arranging of a birthday party. There are 4 of us who have birthdays within about a week and a half of each other so we are having a combined BBQ. I am really looking forward to it. It will be lovely to finish exams and then get to hang out with lots of people that I care about.

Well, I believe that I should go to bed so that I can get up and study hard tomorrow - I am looking forward to my date with Mark (the gospel writer that is), so I should get my beauty sleep. :)

STUVAC!

Well Hebrew is done!! I can only pray that God will be gracious and the PRW will be kind in marking. I guess I feel like I probably will pass but I would not at all be surprised if I didn't. Well, I need to press on to what is ahead... And that is a week of Stuvac (Study Vacation) then into 2 weeks of exams. I have not really looked at these 6 subjects much all year so please pray that my time studying this week will be profitable and precise. I will need to be very diligent and use my time effectively since I will have a lot of ground to cover. However with God on my side, together we can make it through this stressful time.

On a complete tangent, my mum came home from Paris this week. And it was really great to see her and hang out with her. I really love my mum!!! And I missed her while she was away but she really needed this holiday! It was really good for her and she is so much happier for it. I got spoilt and got lots of lovely gifts from her. It was really nice to just be able to hug her again though - that is what I think is best about having her home!

Well, I should probably go to sleep... It is getting quite late. Farewell for now...

Ahhhh Hebrew!!!

Tomorrow is my Hebrew exam and I am a little stressed!! I don't know anywhere near enough vocab and probably not enough of my verb table yet. I am trying hard to be conscientious but sometimes it is hard when the tiredness kicks in. Please pray that I can study hard and go well in this exam tomorrow and then be able to get organised for the series of exams to come.
Thanks for your prayers!!! They are worth more than gold!!

Sinful People!

When you start to think things can't get any worse...they do. Today my frustration comes at the sinfulness of individuals. The pain and sadness I feel at this is huge. I am exhausted. Too much has happened in 3 days. And all conveniently around exam time. This has meant that studying for Hebrew has been difficult.

But as usual I hold firm to the truth I find in God. He is in control of this crazy world and the pain I feel at these injustices he feels even greater since he has created each one of us. He hates it when through sin we hurt each other. He hates it when the defenseless are taken advantage of.

But one day there will be justice! There will be justice for all the sin in this world. The scary thing about this is that the sin in my life will also be called to account. I will stand before my creator and have to give an account for all my sin and for pain that has been caused as a result.

But we have in Jesus a saviour who took the punishment for our sin. "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring [us] to God" (1 Peter 3:18 ). We will be accountable for our sin but if we trust in Jesus' saving death and resurrection we will not be found guilty. What a comfort in this world wrought with suffering and pain!

Harvest of Righteousness and Peace

Hebrews 12:7-11 "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it".

A harvest of righteousness and peace!!! What a concept! Sometimes we wish that discipline did not have to occur but if it didn't we would not be true sons of God, heirs to his Kingdom or co-heirs with Christ. "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs-- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory" (Rom 8:15-17).

Hardship and discipline are never pleasant at the time but the fruit that they bear in the end make it worth it (although right now it does not feel like it). Please pray that I will trust that God's purposes for me are good. He is a good and great God and he is worthy of our trust.

:(

Today has just really enhanced my pain in regards to relationships. I guess in this life things don't always work out the way you would like. And that is the time when you need to trust in the one who created you and who has called you to be his child. "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matt 7:9-11). God knows what it best for us and we just have to trust him in that even when things are tough. This is what I will work hard at doing right now.