Published May 13, 2007 by

Off the Edge

something_to_say_by_autumn_rain.jpgI haven’t fallen off the side of the planet.

There is a mounting list of things I should be doing but quite literally, can’t.
I am about as bogged down in uni stuff as you can get. There needs to be a little space to live and sleep but in predicting the next two weekends, it’s only going to get worse.

One thing worth mentioning is that we’re trying something a bit new with our youth group. Every few weeks instead of our ‘Friday nights’ we are splitting into small groups. This happens whenever works best during the week. I have the Year 7 girls as my crew as I seem to have a bit of a relationship going with them and am really (to be honest) quite pleased about it. Laura is taking the Year 9 girls and Analise the Year 8’s, Geoff is taking all the boys (There are only about 3) and we’re on the lookout for co-leaders.

I’d like to run with a mix of fun stuff and of course, some deeper stuff (Wow, beautifully coherent, clever words). Any ideas would be welcome. The first one is this coming Friday.

And that’s that. News and news and not told that interestingly.

Oh, we do have a 90% confirmed reception place and we have gotten an absolute bargain due to one clever stumbling across!!!… and our engagement party is in a few weeks. Invites to go out soonish. Keep checking your email!

Life Ministry Wedding

Published May 10, 2007 by

That popped balloon feeling

balloon.jpgYou think you’ve beaten childhood to an extent until you stumble across that devestated feeling (somewhat irrational) of having something you really quite like, break.

Work gave Geoff and I an engagement present today. The wrapping was an art form and the inside was this really, really, really nice white platter with a simple black plant design. The kind of thing I love.

So I cart it all the way home on the train and I’m getting out of my car, crossing the street when it falls out of the bottom of the box and smashes into sizable pieces the middle of the road.

The small bowl and two cheese knifes are still intact, the plate (the nicest bit) however is not, nor is my thumb (which I cut).

I haven’t been disappointed like that a long time.

That popped balloon feeling.

Life Wedding

Published May 10, 2007 by

Judgment and Perspective

love-me-obey-me.jpgI learnt a few new things tonight.

The first being that there is this little suburb near Richmond called Cremone. Killer location. I like Richmond.

This evening Geoff and I went to visit our friends Andy and Ros who used to be at our church until they moved. We went to join-in for the evening with their very new homegroup (currently mostly made up of housemates).

It was beautifully refreshing. I dislike the word refreshing, but it needs to be used.

We had dinner together, made faces at their cats, one of who had a strange fascination with candles hence singed whiskers, competed with a car alarm, had a really real worship (music) time and dug deep into Romans 2:1-16.

God’s judgement. Not so light stuff.

What resulted was a very interesting conversation around conscience, God’s impartiality ie. no favourites, moral obligation, faith and works, works and faith, consequences, ‘being in sin’, the law and grace in a new dimension.

There’s a lot of worth to be found in thrashing out something a bit familiar – or not so familiar – with a few heads, particularly when you’ve got the variety of a caterer, accountant, historian, database administrator and communication designer (In various stages of expertise). This kind of stuff thrills me to bits and it’s something I find quite difficult to do on my own.

Do bother taking a bit of extra time now and then to truly consider context, other parts of the Bible and what the heck God is on about with our lives.

It made me think hard about how I judge others, replacement theories and the evidence of grace in my own life, establishing and enforcing that I really can do nothing off my own bat.

“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?” – Romans 2:1-4

Christianity Church Life Relationships

Published May 9, 2007 by

Fishy attitudes to Bridesmaids

Image by Sarah MensingaSorry to Paul, but this comment about bridesmaids deserves sharing.

Chloe at uni claims that the reason for the somewhat hideous salmon (and like) bridesmaid dresses, is to make the bridesmaids ugly so that the bride stands out more.

Truth?

Image by Sarah Mensinga

Wedding

Published May 8, 2007 by

Top Five Things that Dictate my Time

desk.jpgFor the second-time I am participating in the ProBlogger writing project, for the last round I – and many others shared our Reviews and Predictions, this time it is our Top 5.

I was contemplating sharing my top 5 as a rant about university, due to the fact my creativity is being sucked dry into assignments instead of blog posts, however my life extends beyond that. Infact at the moment my life is driven by more things than I can count.

I could share highlights of recent times, early wedding tips, design happy’s, all the blogs I’ve starred for interest sake, why I haven’t been all that social lately, what meals I cook when I’m by myself, the who’s who in my world, the heroes I don’t normally name (might have to make some up), my top books, my top movies, my top five… It’s difficult to decide.

So here are the Top Five Things that Dictate my Time (at least at the moment).

  • Being a (Communication Design) University Student
  • What’s good: The ability to score a two day uni-week, a small course where faces are familiar and names are relatively well known, occasional discounts on the lifeblood-coffee, interesting conversations, creativity, lectures that are amusing despite being boring, cheap printing, free internet access, one building.
  • What’s bad: Endless homework, persistent ongoing folio work, whopping huge loads of class preparation, one hour train trips, 8:30am starts, no lunch break on Tuesdays, frustrating tutors.
  • Being recently Engaged
  • What’s good: Knowing I get to marry the best guy ever – and be married until one of us dies (how else do I put it?), a nice sparkly ring, no guilt in looking at anything wedding related, people’s greater acceptance of public affection, fun wedding planning, scoring good on a bargain buy of a wedding dress, being able to use the word fiance!
  • What’s bad: Organising a wedding when Point 1 is getting in the way. Other fiddly things around descision making that affects more than just you and your fiance.

Read about my engagement here and here.

  • Being a Youth Group Leader
  • What’s good: Hanging out with some fantastic kids and getting to talk about God and life with them. Fun nights.
  • What’s bad: No free Friday nights and that being my standard ‘crash time moment’ of the week.
  • Living out of Home
  • What’s good: Freedom from ‘set’ be at home by xyz times, and other such household restrictions, more space, more supposed responsibility, the niceness of having a good housemate.
  • What’s bad: Having to get home and cook when you’re tired, waiting to get a full load’s worth of clothes before you can do your washing, paying rent, paying for groceries.
  • Work
  • What’s good: Nice bosses, nice colleagues, getting paid, work conferences to Tasmania, feeling like I’m at a better place to be working there, feeling useful, free lunch, good coffee, the street atmosphere of Albert Park, the orange door, my own business card, salary sacrifice mobile phone bills, steady shifts, holiday pay, sick leave and no one breathing fire down my neck.
  • What’s bad: The hour and half to get there, the longish day, the Friday afternoon knowledge that I have to spend my Saturday doing homework, the trip home (see point 5), the occasional left hanging as to what I could best be doing.

And that’s that! I really have very little spare time at all at the moment, pick or choose which of the above is eating it. My favourite clearly belongs with anything wedding related, my least favourite is the excessive homework.

Large apologies to all those people I’ve said I’ll catch up with, but haven’t had time for. In three weeks I have uni holidays. I will then have a spare 9 weeks (!!!!) up my sleeve to do everything else I wish would be on that list and avoid most of the things I’d rather not have there.

Blogging Life Ministry On The Train Out of Home Uni Wedding