wave byeI’ll be reading all your hundreds of comments and emails when I get back! (Or I’m a tad delusional)I am off to ESA Junior Camp (Summer) for my second time leading. Prayer would be appreciated throughout the week.

I’ll be back by next Saturday so check then!

General Ministry

I know I’m about four or so days late but why not take the month of January to reflect and then move on and plan up big for the new year…

What 2006 Looked Like Through the Eyes of This Blog

January: 46 posts

  • Musings on life, see-sawing feelings of satisfaction and frustration about failing to properly use my time and life.
  • Being apprehensive about money and buying a car.
  • Brief explorations around singleness and love.
  • My passport runs out.
  • Contentment and several separate individuals mention that I look happier
  • Soul Survivor: God pulls out a stunner of a moon to wake me up to being okay with being me
  • Neighbors House catches on fire
  • Gush meetings
  • I meet some interesting people while I’m working
  • Driving Lessons
  • Big fat scary day with: Uni Introductions and a conversation that had to be had
  • Computer dies as I am just about to back everything up
  • I (as opposed to my car) overheat with being sick ,nearly end up fainting at work and am extremely sick for the whole week when everyone else in my house is away. It doesn’t get much more miserable.
  • I contemplate the way Australian’s mourn ineffectively
  • My head is crowded with too much thinking (Fine of me at the time to explain it with a picture but I cannot remember what on earth it was about)

January was a cheery month! (And if you missed the sarcasm there… read that list again)

February: 46 posts

  • Rants on singleness and how people should be happy with the way things are
  • I realise that I haven’t been paying a whole lot of attention to God
  • Car Hunting
  • I weigh the shaky balance of being a Christian and being a goody-two-shoes Christian
  • Dan makes me stay ‘just one more week’ at Vineyard
  • I talk about my weird variety of school experiences
  • I think and talk about the delicacy of love and friendship
  • YITS Mondays start up under ‘the Experiment’ which never eventuated but did morph into a good thing
  • I enjoy myself watching people where I work
  • I talk about ‘The One’ and about to pray or not to pray – it provokes some controversy and sparks further posts
  • I take Valentines day to reflect on 2005
  • I shout hooray for strong women and oppose feminism
  • A Freudian slip betrays to me my instability with ‘church’
  • I discuss ‘hearing from God’
  • Jess and I are introduced to Deakin University – I start uni
  • First Young Adults Homegroup for Bec and she gets excited about church again
  • I talk more about prayer
  • I meet Jess, Belle and Sammy properly again
  • I discuss why I eventually want to get married

February was exciting in that I got back on track and began new things.

March: 50 posts

  • Everyday things like uni life and losing my bank card
  • I think I know too much, work that out, decide God isn’t very safe at all and I’m actually happier about that fact
  • Catching up with Solomons people/close old friends and seeing what has changed
  • I get further ‘unstuck’ with some God stuff
  • Reading Philippians causes me to be hyper-aware of my complaining and instills in me a desire to curb that
  • Car hunting
  • I rant on about how Christians shouldn’t impose their morals on others and take a peek at legalism
  • Church camp, I meet some more people then I run away to the beach with Cam and Dan to enjoy myself out of the way of all the new people
  • I can finally drive!
  • I discuss attractiveness and beauty and it’s subjective nature
  • I go the Commonwealth Games – Ariel Gymnastics
  • I buy a car!
  • I decide to be unhelpful because I am sick of hearing about peoples ‘issues’
  • I make and talk about friends at uni
  • Further musings on my being a thinker not a feeler
  • I am encouraged by John Capper (Tabor)

March was a time for getting properly into the swing of a new normality.

April: 42 posts

  • I graduate from Tabor College with a Certificate IV in Youth Development
  • I turn 20
  • I look at how God works over how we perceive and want him to work
  • I start to strongly dislike work
  • I have an, “It sucks being single” moment that fades as soon as it came
  • I get angry about Christian marketing and how we have to be bribed into giving to a ‘good cause’
  • I begin an on-going fascination with how joy plays out in the Christian life (and am still pursing it now and then)
  • I contemplate the place of forgiveness in a secular society
  • I have a day at uni that is ‘hellish’
  • Recognition of how grateful I am that I stuck it out at Vineyard
  • I get angry about Easter Eggs and commercialism
  • I have fun with Sam
  • Paul and I spend some time getting lost trying to find Kings Domain
  • My car is roadworthy and driveable!
  • Solomons political situation escalates
  • I talk a little about community
  • Young Adults camp and a 2am Canasta Game where the grand team ability Geoff and I first comes into play – we lost miserably (apparently he was perfectly okay with it, which if you know him is saying something!)
  • Closure on a few things (community related post Solomons/YITS) that was also enlightening to find it lingering
  • I contemplate patience
  • I have a good conversation with some uni girls about relationships and abstinence/kissing etc.
  • Jas and Paul come to visit
  • I tease out the ‘everything is permissible’ verse and explore where we shouldn’t stretch it to fit our own personal conditions
  • Interesting work customers/dissatisfaction
  • I chicken out in favor of being self preserving (and a wuss)
  • Monica gets engaged

April was about further establishing things, closure and the testing of that closure.

May: 50 posts

  • I hit a big assignment period at uni
  • We close up the old Gush
  • I get sucky shifts at work
  • I flounder in not having any good goals for the distinct reason that I am a goal orientated person
  • My car gives me a fat lip
  • We launch the new Gush
  • I open up readership of this blog to my siblings
  • I decide I’ve been writing a whole lot of meaningless filler
  • Fun young adults activities like Mini-golfing
  • Jess and I go and chat to Rowan and come away with some new insight about relating to God
  • I take a break from caffeine
  • I quit work
  • I ask a male friend to key me in about some things about boys – he obliges
  • I contemplate and am struck by ‘being continually renewed’ and how God works in our lives
  • I discover that I am a Respectful Inventor
  • I have a stunning D&M with some of the YITS Mondays
  • Geoff slaps my face during a young adults evening and is highly embarrassed
  • My Oma is in hospital and I get to remember again how much I hate going to hospitals and why I never became a doctor (ach such a small, small factor!)
  • I find a killer quote that ends up on my wall
  • Another disaster day at Deakin (and many many good ones)
  • I find out that the celebrity I most resemble facially is apparently Rachel Adams
  • I humour myself in taking part in ‘Towel Day’ courtesy of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (Who said I wasn’t a nerd)
  • I share some link love
  • I work out that the God thing has moved more specifically beyond character formation (yes that continues to happen) and more into… duh, God. I decide life is boring and it shouldn’t be.
  • I buy shoes that are worth more than $20 after realising they might just last me longer.
  • I reflect on friendships and the messes I’ve made around letting some of them slide

May was about realising things and severe lack of caffeine.

June: 45 posts

  • I rant about how I don’t think that online relationships are smart
  • We decide that my dog Job has to go
  • I read books on singleness despite being in a very content place about it all
  • I like forever and the constancy of God
  • My dog is given away
  • Church changes and I am at peace
  • An internet quiz tells me that I’m Emergent/Postmodern
  • I have an amusing conversation about my glasses and how it ‘things affect self esteem’ to which I laughed and assured the person it wasn’t a problem
  • I have conversations about purpose and my desire to be part of something bigger than myself
  • I get into ebaying with Mum
  • My character gets incorrectly called into question (not even a huge drama and I can’t even remember what it was about) but it pushed a button
  • I find out that cold and flu tablet are !!!!
  • I say goodbye to Jess D (closest school friend) as she heads off to Canberra
  • Car trouble: bogged and in an accident all on the same day. Analise is the culpable driver. Geoff is the hero. I am simply a passenger that gets to watch the 4wd coming towards me.
  • Exams
  • Poker night at Geoff’s
  • I talk about change and risks involved the love and hate of it
  • One fish dies – I make plans to kill the second off
  • I talk more about community
  • ESA Junior Winter Camp – first time in leading
  • I think about ‘not worrying’
  • Memorable YITS catchup at Kat’s, red living rooms and Keeping Mum
  • I talk about righteous living

June a time of pretending to be blind to boy stuff, challenging myself and feeling settled but not passive in life.

July: 46 posts

  • Big Gush meet-up
  • I muse about freedom and independence
  • Geoff asks me out (a little to my shock) and I have a nerve wracking few days working out where I’d go with it all
  • Trust comes up at Young Ad’s along with oh-so-many pertinent conversations
  • I share some ‘favourite things’
  • I have a quality time with my sister Hannah
  • First date (not specifically mentioned – merely alluded to)
  • I go to a Forge night and have a brilliant day
  • An old teacher sends a gently teasing and lovely email
  • My Dad owns up that he reads this blog
  • I deal with people’s reactions to my descision to be going-out with Geoff and I avoid talking to someone because I don’t know what to do
  • Good uni results and a new and better studio group
  • The Office Party at Jess’s
  • I discuss falling in love as a silly myth
  • I help Geoff move house and get to know his family better
  • I read up on ‘communion’ and talk at length about it
  • A ripper conversation with Tim, Laura and Geoff at Maccas
  • I feed my culture hunger and go and see Picasso
  • I get tricked into helping out at youth group and end up returning as a leader
  • I go through process of getting contacts
  • I discover a new cafe at uni

July was quite clearly about being a little courageous and getting to experience a myriad of new things.

August: 33 post

  • I get excited about some past skills and find an avenue at uni to use them
  • I get contacts
  • People point out what God is doing in them through stuff I am involved in and I am encouraged
  • I continue to look at the honor of being able to play a part in what God is doing
  • God puts me in a canoe without a paddle and I get to discard my brain a bit in favor of my heart
  • I grapple with how I could be better using my life
  • I ponder God’s love
  • I talk about not being a stereotypical woman and about church
  • I think about being genuine and more public about my faith after spending some time with some Korean girls in the middle of a shopping centre and talking to an AA guy.
  • James encourages me by listening to God and praying for me what is relevant
  • My camera dies – I am sad
  • A friend asks me about the steps to maturity and end up talking at length about reality and maturity
  • I start seriously considering the not-so-crash-hot quality of my uni course
  • I am tired and want a holiday
  • Goodbye to NBK!
  • I evaluate how I waste time

August was a month of growth and a subtle look at Colossians 2:7

“Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done.” Colossians 2:7 (NLT)

September: 22 posts

  • I share some link love
  • I talk about Christianity
  • Mega YITS reunion
  • I meet more of Geoff’s friends
  • I wind myself in an out of confusion around uni and purpose
  • A conversation with an old lady (Jehovah’s Witness) leads me to further consider grace and just how amazing that is.
  • I am dissatisfied with status quo and glad of a God who persists
  • Good times at youth, young adults
  • I find the Communication Design course and express initial interest
  • I am tricked into acting and decide to ‘live with it’
  • I have a fun day(s) with Geoff
  • I talk about how I stopped watching the news and how I was convicted to do something about it
  • I move the blog across to WordPress and have my domain name
  • I talk extensively about community

September involved much thinking about what had to change.

October: 38 posts

  • I redesign the blog
  • I finish up uni assignments and struggle through programming
  • I join the Advoc8 team (because they need people)
  • I decide the blog hasn’t seen quality or quantity for quite some time
  • I am horrified by the level of quality education (lack of) in fellow students
  • I get caught by a speeding camera on my own road
  • I go for a wander around Richmond with Geoff and have a picnic with Pete and Kathy down at Williamstown
  • I think tentatively about incarnational mission and how I don’t think I’m meant to end up in cross-cultural mission (in the overseas/third-world sense)
  • I discuss art, virtue and entertainment
  • I am sick

October was about being overly busy and beginning very cautiously to consider a few things that could be relevant in career/life/church down the track.

November: 51 posts

  • Uni exams
  • I talk about “bearing fruit that will last”
  • I work out that I haven’t really used my year very well
  • I return to Tabor to talk about my post-yits experience and come away further encouraged with the on-coming new year
  • Last exam
  • I have a great time with people and then enough of people
  • Lists are enjoyable and I mention why
  • An encounter of thanks shows me more about worship
  • I investigate physio
  • I rant about Christians sometimes care too much about swearing
  • I make pumpkin pie
  • I get an interview with Swinburne!
  • I decide my blog is self absorbed
  • Folio blues
  • Youth group sleepover and other ‘fun times’
  • An odd tangent about how I like hands
  • I think about the glory of God and what that means for my life

November was about making inroads and realigning where I am heading.

December: 29 posts

  • I have my interview with Swinburne Uni for Communication Design
  • Young adults camp (hang out style)
  • Beth and Brian’s Wedding
  • Good uni results
  • I fiddle around with ‘understanding God’ and the nuances of it all
  • I go the physio
  • I take a look at predestination and my general understanding ‘for the greater good’
  • I look back on my mission/vision statement
  • I have an embarrassing moment
  • Handel’s Messiah
  • My sister graduates
  • I am accepted into Swinburne!
  • I relocate my other blogs across to WordPress
  • All Said and Done turns Two!
  • My Car has trouble
  • I write my reviews and predictions post and reflect on the ‘bigger things’
  • I read up on glory
  • Late night shopping and ridiculous endeavors (way too fun)
  • Christmas happenings
  • I opt for a short blogging break

December was much about sailing through what life has become and realising that it’s all very easy (something that probably does need to change).

So, this is how the year looked:

January was frustrating.
February was exciting.
March was normality.
April was closure.
May was realisation.
June was challenging.
July was experiential.
August was growth.
September was change.
October was busy.
November was directional.
December was cruisy.

Perhaps the year wasn’t so bad afterall! It was certainly full (took me a heck of a long time to go back over it all) and God was definitely well and truly involved in doing much despite my clouded observation.

General Life