I put this in for Caitlin, who remarked during our afternoon of coffee shops that she didn't want to see a country like a tourist -- would want to live in it and get a real understanding of the place (or something along those lines).
If I were to now visit another country, I would ask my local companion, before I saw any museum or library, any factory or fabled town, to walk me in the country of his or her youth, to tell me the names of things and how, traditionally, they have been fitted together in a community. I would ask for the stories, the voice of memory over the land. I would ask to taste the wild nuts and fruits, to see their fishing lures, their bouquets, their fences. I would ask about the history of storms there, the age of the trees, the winter colour of the hills. Only then would I ask to see the museums. I would want first the sense of a real place, to know that I was not inhabiting an idea.
--Barry Lopez, 'The American Geographies', About This Life
Spotted a sign this morning :
KID'S CHURCH ON SUNDAYS
and thought it was a little sad that they singled the poor child out by himself (or herself) instead of letting him (her) join in with the rest of the congregation.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Monday, February 4, 2008
the end of the holidays looms
Regular updates don't really seem to be my thing at the moment - or any moment, really, but I keep telling myself I'll get around to it one day. Just you watch.
So anyway it's been a fun holidays, especially spending the past few weeks with my Grandma. It was great to see Mum and Dad over Christmas and the new year, and even better to see Joel (my brother) get married on the 5th of January to Carolyn. Good also to catch up with the few people I have.
Well it's back to Melbourne on Saturday, which I am looking forward to. I've got my own room this year, which will be nice. Together with my inherited recliner chair and coffee machine (from Marcos, my cross-roommate last year), I am anticipating it becoming the social hub of BCV - not that my good looks and charm alone wouldn't make it so.
So anyway it's been a fun holidays, especially spending the past few weeks with my Grandma. It was great to see Mum and Dad over Christmas and the new year, and even better to see Joel (my brother) get married on the 5th of January to Carolyn. Good also to catch up with the few people I have.
Well it's back to Melbourne on Saturday, which I am looking forward to. I've got my own room this year, which will be nice. Together with my inherited recliner chair and coffee machine (from Marcos, my cross-roommate last year), I am anticipating it becoming the social hub of BCV - not that my good looks and charm alone wouldn't make it so.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
holidays
First, let me apologise for the long silence. I'll try and get around to writing a newsletter about what the year's been like just so you know. It's been a good year, and my heart is filled with thankfulness when I look back and see just how much God has done in me.
Secondly, I just thought I'd let everyone know where I am these holidays. From today (Sunday 16 December) until the 10th of January I'll be back in Bowral. From 11-18 January I'll be up in Kempsey, but from 19 Jan until 09 Feb I'll be in Bowral again.
Thirdly, sixthly, and lastly, I head back to start a new year at BCV on the 9th of February. Next year (08) should be a good one. We start doing a lot more of the engineering, which I am looking forward to. Already checking out pretty looking tools on the internet.
And to conclude, I hope I can catch up with you if you are around these holidays. For everyone that doesn't live within catching-up distance (I think Kako takes the cake - Sweden is maybe a bit far), then I hope we can catch up some other way or time.
Secondly, I just thought I'd let everyone know where I am these holidays. From today (Sunday 16 December) until the 10th of January I'll be back in Bowral. From 11-18 January I'll be up in Kempsey, but from 19 Jan until 09 Feb I'll be in Bowral again.
Thirdly, sixthly, and lastly, I head back to start a new year at BCV on the 9th of February. Next year (08) should be a good one. We start doing a lot more of the engineering, which I am looking forward to. Already checking out pretty looking tools on the internet.
And to conclude, I hope I can catch up with you if you are around these holidays. For everyone that doesn't live within catching-up distance (I think Kako takes the cake - Sweden is maybe a bit far), then I hope we can catch up some other way or time.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
it's not about what you do for me, zander; it's all about what I did for you
What I do for God
I've been fasting since Tuesday, for various reasons; some good, some not so good. But in this, God, as in everything, has been moulding and shaping me, and teaching me through his word.
Andrew Murray once said, "Fasting helps to express, to deepen, and to confirm the resolution that we are willing to sacrifice anything, to sacrifice ourselves to attain what we seek for the Kingdom of God."
Fasting is a good thing to do. It reminds me that "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Dt 8:3; Mt 4:4). But I was thinking today, this being the third day of my four-day fast, that by tomorrow evening I will have accomplished my goal of showing God how much I love him - that he matters more to me than food. It struck me then that it really doesn't matter what I do for God. He will still be God, regardless of whether I fast for four days, forty days, or not at all. His love for me, His devotion to me, will not be diminished because of my paltry response to him.
Colossians 1:13-22
Reading Colossians 1:13-22, and reading Dick Lucas's exposition of it in the Bible Speaks Today series :
"This resolute refusal to divide God's work from Christ, or to divide Christ in respect of the various parts of his work, gives us a clue we need to recognise two forms in which 'fullness' teaching may have reached Colossae. It may have been by a claim that God had not finished his work of salvation for the Colossians in giving them Christ, so that he had still more to give them if his work was to be completed. But the false teaching may have been put in another way. The Colossians may have been told that to receive the benefits of Christ's saving work on the cross was one thing, but that to receive and enjoy the benefits of his reigning work at God's right hand was quite another. To be cleansed from sin was a blessed beginning; but to be delivered from sin's power they must now claim and appropriate the victory of the ascended Lord over the principalities and powers. To be fully saved the Colossians were urged to make the full Christ their own.
"Against both these forms of erroneous teaching Paul's testimony stands unshaken. He teaches first that what God has done in Christ exhausts all that God has to do for us. He teaches, secondly, that when a person is in Christ, he or she is the beneficiary of all that God has done in Christ."
What God did for me
While fasting and praying and reading the Bible and good works are all important parts of the Christian life, and while they can assist my spiritual growth, God's work in me is not based on what I do for him. Everything that he does in my life is because of what Christ did on the cross for me. All of who I am and will become is because of Christ. Nothing is based on my efforts.
Now there's a comforting thought.
I've been fasting since Tuesday, for various reasons; some good, some not so good. But in this, God, as in everything, has been moulding and shaping me, and teaching me through his word.
Andrew Murray once said, "Fasting helps to express, to deepen, and to confirm the resolution that we are willing to sacrifice anything, to sacrifice ourselves to attain what we seek for the Kingdom of God."
Fasting is a good thing to do. It reminds me that "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Dt 8:3; Mt 4:4). But I was thinking today, this being the third day of my four-day fast, that by tomorrow evening I will have accomplished my goal of showing God how much I love him - that he matters more to me than food. It struck me then that it really doesn't matter what I do for God. He will still be God, regardless of whether I fast for four days, forty days, or not at all. His love for me, His devotion to me, will not be diminished because of my paltry response to him.
Colossians 1:13-22
Reading Colossians 1:13-22, and reading Dick Lucas's exposition of it in the Bible Speaks Today series :
"This resolute refusal to divide God's work from Christ, or to divide Christ in respect of the various parts of his work, gives us a clue we need to recognise two forms in which 'fullness' teaching may have reached Colossae. It may have been by a claim that God had not finished his work of salvation for the Colossians in giving them Christ, so that he had still more to give them if his work was to be completed. But the false teaching may have been put in another way. The Colossians may have been told that to receive the benefits of Christ's saving work on the cross was one thing, but that to receive and enjoy the benefits of his reigning work at God's right hand was quite another. To be cleansed from sin was a blessed beginning; but to be delivered from sin's power they must now claim and appropriate the victory of the ascended Lord over the principalities and powers. To be fully saved the Colossians were urged to make the full Christ their own.
"Against both these forms of erroneous teaching Paul's testimony stands unshaken. He teaches first that what God has done in Christ exhausts all that God has to do for us. He teaches, secondly, that when a person is in Christ, he or she is the beneficiary of all that God has done in Christ."
What God did for me
While fasting and praying and reading the Bible and good works are all important parts of the Christian life, and while they can assist my spiritual growth, God's work in me is not based on what I do for him. Everything that he does in my life is because of what Christ did on the cross for me. All of who I am and will become is because of Christ. Nothing is based on my efforts.
Now there's a comforting thought.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
keyboard
Well, thanks to God's provision and to Steph and Richard Rotgans's kindness, I now have a keyboard that works with my computer. Thank you to Steph and Richard and thanks especially to God. It has made things so much easier. Thank you also to everyone who offered help to me.
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