Just handed in my essay for the year - in fact, my last essay for my Bachelor degree! It was hard going right up to the end. Now I have 2 exams to go before I finally graduate. My 3 years here has gone by so quick. In many ways I'll miss this place. But I'm definitely looking forward to the end of essay writing! :)

Give thanks for 3 wonderful years of training at SMBC. Pray for me as I prepare for these final exams that I'll continue to learn heaps from the Bible. Pray also for next year as I look for work in an ABC church.

Two weeks ago I was up in Queensland for Brisbane Leadership Training (BLT). It's kinda like a SCCCA Training Day, but for a whole weekend. I ran 2 workshops, one on Shortcuts to Writing Better Bible Studies, which mainly focussed on using Bible study guides. And the second one was on Systematic Theology - Doctrine of Scripture.

The 2nd workshop was quite hard to prepare because there was lots of material and the contents were quite dense. So in order to break it into bit-sized chunks, I edited a few comics from my favourite Calvin & Hobbes. I will post a few of them here. See if you can work out what the point I was trying to make (note: little Calvin doesn't always get his theology right).
(I own a copy of all the comics, but I don't know if this violates any copyright laws...)

Give thanks for the Chinese churches up in Brisbane who are striving hard to preach Christ. Pray that the leaders will continue to grow in godly character and mature understanding. Pray that God will send workers to help lead and teach his people in QLD.

At youth group, we've been looking at different aspects of mission. It's been quite fun (well, at least for me). Last night we looked at one of the biggest challenges that missionaries go through - language!

One of our simulation activities was to break up into groups and make up a few phrases in a new language, and then teach it to people from another group - without using English of course! (though people didn't stick strictly to that rule...)

Here is some footage of a few of the groups. It looks very random to anyone who wasn't there on the night. But see if you can work out what they are saying. :D

Give thanks that we have such ready access to the Bible in our own language, such that we have too many choices when we go to a Christian bookstore. Pray for missionaries working overseas, especially those in the work of Bible translation. Pray that God may give them great patience and endurance as they seek to communicate the great news of Jesus Christ to a foreign people.

This blog has been gathering dust once again...

The past few months since I've been back from India have been extremely busy/stressful. Had loads of assignments to do, and zero motivation. But somehow I managed to write 7,000 words in 2 weeks (a HUGE achievement for me) for 3 essays, and still pass all my exams.

Just finished having a relaxing break, and today's the first day back at college. Another semester ahead - my last one!

Give thanks that God enabled me to pass 1st semester despite my failings. Pray that I will make the most of my time in the last few months of my college training.

I'm back!! Alive and (mostly) well.

Lots to tell about India. I kept a journal on the trip, so I'll be back-posting some of those here with photos. The journal entries are only a record of what happened on the trip, without much reflections. I'm still thinking through the things I saw and experienced in India and working out how it applies to my life and ministry.

In the meantime, I have stackloads of stuff to catch up on. If you look at my schedule for May, it's jam-packed!! Aiya! :S

Give thanks for a safe journey and the chance to see what God is doing in North India. Pray for the Muslims, Hindus, and other spiritual-seekers in India that they may find the truth in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Introductions in the morning, and then lunch at a restaurant called Banana Leaf in Connaught Place.



















Shopping for clothes in the arvo (the girls got some fantastic salwas). A brief nap, and then off to dinner at a (relatively) expensive restaurant.




By this time I'm so thoroughly exhausted. I could write about all the things I've seen and heard and smelled, but I'm going to be in deep sleep before my head even hits the pillow.

After some brekkie and a shower I'm feeling a bit better.

What had happened was that Phil & Dave had planned to come and meet me at the airport at 2am. They had asked Tim to arrange a taxi for them to go pick me up. But a bit of miscommunication here. Tim got the idea that they just wanted a taxi to go get me. So he sends a taxi driver with my name on a sign to stand at the arrivals area. Phil & Dave are waiting at the hostel, and finally realises that the taxi is not coming to take them to the airport. After consulting with Tim, they go to bed thinking that everything is fine.

Meanwhile at the airport I was doing a great job of ignoring all the taxi drivers - because in our preparation in Sydney, we were told that we would get swamped by beggers, hawkers and taxi drivers, and the best way to deal with them is to ignore them. And so I did.

The poor guy was probably trying to get my attention and see if it's my name on his sign, but I would've totally ignored him. Afterall I was only expecting Phil or someone I knew. Not my name on a sign. And so I sat at the airport and waited. And so did that taxi driver. Apparently he was there till 5am.

It wasn't until some of the guys from my team woke up at around 5am that they realised I hadn't arrived. The girls and married couples were in different rooms, so they were totally oblivous to my plight.

Later on, we joked that this was a greak April Fool's surprise...

Yes!! Someone picks up the phone!! A voice says, "Hello, this is Tim speaking. " YES!! I'm saved! A wave of relief washes over me.

It's too cumbersome to tell in detail what happened next. But after a few phone calls by Tim, and me calling Tim back each time (costing me Rs30-40 per call, and each time my Asian stingy mind instinctively crying out in protest until I remember that this is getting me out of the airport, and it's only AUD$3), Phil and Pierre are now on their way over to pick me up.

It’s been 3 hrs since I arrived. The place has emptied over the last few hrs, but it’s slowing filling up again as the sun rises.

Now I am starting to get anxious.

I see a number of rusty yellow public phones around. It looks like it takes Rs1 (1 rupee) coin for a call.

Problem #1: The smallest amount I have is a Rs1000 note.

There are a few shops around. I try and buy a bottle of water (Rs20), but the shopkeeper can't change such a large note. Fortunately there’s a taxi driver nearby who broke it up for me (of course he also wanted my business as well). But that still left me with a bunch of notes and no coins. So I asked the shopkeeper if he could break the Rs10 note into coins. I told him I needed it for a phone call. He didn’t have enough coins, but he took pity on me and gave me a Rs1 coin.

Ok. I got my coin. Now I can make a call.

Problem #2: Who do I call?

We had been given a few numbers to call depending on where we were and who we wanted to contact. In Delhi I had the number for the hostel we were staying at. So that would be the most logical place to call.

Problem #3: Would anyone be awake to take my call at this time of the morning? Would they speak English? How do I get them to put me through to my team mates since I don’t know what room they’re in?

Problem #4: What number do I dial? I.e. on our list of contact numbers, the instructions were to dial 011-91 first. Is that an international prefix? Or a local area code?

Problem #5: I only have 1 coin. That means only 1 chance to get this right. If I stuff up and dial the wrong number & prefix, then I’d be stuck here.

Problem #6: I’m getting quite stressed now.

Maybe I should try something else. Perhaps the best thing is to call our local contact Tim. He should be able to contact Pierre and/or get me out of here.

Problem #7: I have his house number which is in Lucknow. And I have his mobile number. Does that mean he’s still currently in Lucknow? Or has he come to Delhi to meet the team? Can I actually call Lucknow with Rs1 coin, or is that an interstate call? How do I call Lucknow? Do I need a different prefix? I still hadn’t answer problem #4. Do I need to dial 011-91 as well? What if I get through but he’s not there? I could try his mobile, but the same problem all over again.

Gee, I though having all these numbers were supposed to solve my problems. Good thing I didn’t work this out early when I first arrived, or else I would’ve panicked!

Maybe I should’ve called earlier. What if they stayed up all night worrying about me? Oh why didn’t I call earlier? Then I wouldn’t have had to spend the night here at the airport without sleep.

Oh, hang on. I still don’t know what number to call.

I see 2 airport security guys around. So I go over to see if they can help me with this. After much confused discussion, I worked out that 011-91 is the international prefix. I also found that that the prefix to Lucknow is 0522, and to dial a mobile I need to first press 0. And nope, I can’t dial to Lucknow or to a mobile with only Rs1.

I still I didn’t like my chance of calling the hostel in Delhi. So I was back to square 1.

Problem #8: By now I’m really stressed!! And I need to pee. There are no toilets in sight – how can there be no toilets in an airport!?!?

As I looked around for the toilet my eyes fell on this funny phone booth for international calls. I saw this earlier but didn’t pay any attention to it, thinking that I don’t have the coins to call Australia, nor do I know the prefix.

But when I saw the phone booth this time, I realised that there’s an old man who’s been sitting next to it for some time. Maybe he wasn’t just sitting there reading his paper. Maybe he knows how to operate the phone.

It turns out that the international phone is not a coin-operated phone. It’s a normal LAN phone with a timer hooked up to it and this man charges you for your call. And better still, not only can he do international calls, but he can also call Lucknow.

So I ask him ho much it’d cost to call Tim’s house in Lucknow. Answer – Rs10! That’s 10 times the cost of a payphone for a local call. But then I reminded myself that the exchange rate is AUD$1=Rs30. So this phone call is only AUD$0.33.

I make the call. But no one answers.

Maybe they’re still asleep. I let it ring for a bit longer...BRRRING BRRRING...

Still no answer. D’oh!!

I hang up and ask to dial Tim’s mobile.

Location: Delhi
I’ve finally arrived in Delhi after many hrs of flying. I’ve lost track of how long I’ve spent sitting. I was expected to arrive at 2am, but the plane was ½ hr late, and my luggage was one of the last to come out. Now I’m ready to catch a few hrs of sleep before we hit our first big day in India.

But one slight problem...I’m stranded here at the airport.

Phil (or someone from the team) is supposed to meet me here. Maybe they got tired of waiting. Maybe they can’t get here for some reason. Maybe they forgot!!

I have some contact numbers, so I guess if no one turns up, I can give them a call. I keep looking around in hope that they’re just sitting down somewhere and we haven’t seen each other. Good thing I have some biscuits and water to give me some energy. But getting a nap is a bit hard.

I’ve only slept an hr or two since I left SMBC over 24 hrs ago. But I don’t feel that tired. Or anxious. I even have the patience to put up with pests like mossies and taxi drivers.

Most of the flight to HK was spent watching movies and occasionally chatting with Taiwan team people. Suzanna had really bad air-sickness. I decided to watch movies from HK to Delhi as well, not because there was anything good on, nor to get my money’s worth, but so I could make myself tired and adjust to Indian sleeping hrs.

While transiting in HK for 7 hrs I did some shopping. Bought 2 pairs of pants for HK$50. A cheap watch for HK$20. And an umbrella (HK$15) just in case. Then had a nice jap dinner with parents before going back to the airport.

...

Spent 20mins writing up this entry. But still no one has turned up…

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind, hence my absence from this blog. People who blog all the time must have nothing to do, or have lots to say. I'm neither.

Anyways, I'll be off to India for college mission in a few hours. I really should be in bed, because my flight leaves at 8:30am, which means I have to get to the airport by 6:30am, which means I have to leave by 6:00am, which then means I have to wake up at...?

Those who are interested in praying for me should have already received prayer points, so I won't put them here. If for some reason you missed out, then email me and I'll pass on the prayer points.

I don't know how often I'll have net access in India. I'll try and update whenever possible. I'll be keeping a journal, so it should be easy to just type out some of those when I get into an Internet Cafe. Might not have time to upload photos, but I'll see.

See you when I get back (hopefully in one healthy piece!).

Rom 3:21-31 - the most important passage of Romans, and perhaps, also the hardest. I finished writing the sermon at 3:30am on Sunday morning, slept for a few hours, read over it and touched it up a bit, and preached it.

The lateness of my preparation is not (entirely) due to the lack of work beforehand. It was just that there were so many things to cover in the passage. Things that I needed to explain include:

1. Context of this passage in relation to Romans 1-3, and also the latter part of the book
   
2. Righteousness of God
   
3. How this righteousness is apart from the law, and yet the law and the prophets testify to it
   
4. Faith
   
5. Fall short of the glory of God
   
6. Justification (declare righteous)
   
7. Grace
   
8. Redemption
   
9. Sacrifice of atonement (propitiation) & blood
   
10. God's justice past and present
    
11. Relationship between faith and law/obedience
    
12. How the law is not nullified by faith but rather upheld

How's that for a jam-packed passage?!? 12 things! Plus there's the whole legal metaphor throughout Romans 2 onwards culminating in this passage. For example, look at my own translation of Rom 3:21-26:

²¹ But now apart from the law a righteousness of God has been revealed to which the law and the prophets testify, ²² the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. For there is no difference, ²³ for all sinned and fall short of the glory of God ²⁴ and are declared righteous freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God presented as a propitiation through faith in his blood, to demonstrate his righteousness - because the sins of the past were overlooked ²⁶ in the forbearance of God - to the demonstration of his righteousness in the present time, so that he might be righteous and declaring righteous the one who is of the faith of Jesus.

It's a very wooden translation (i.e. rigid and not flowy English), but I've underlined all the words which are related to righteous. If you compare it with the NIV, it's translated using different words, so you don't see the repetition. It's the antithesis of Rom 3:20 ("Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law;" NIV). What is not possible by law is possible by faith. We can now be legally declared righteous because of Jesus' death and resurrection. I don't know how people found the sermon. But I'm just relieved that it's over now. If you are interested in the transcript, you can download it here. There's a small possibility of an audio version for download as well. If so, I'll post the link here when I get it.

Praise God for his mercy in justifying us (declaring us as righteous) through the work of his Son Jesus. Pray that those who heard the sermon will put their trust (faith) in him and not their personal goodness. Give thanks that God was able to use me to bring such an important message to his people.

Now onto to essays...

I'm back! Finally! I've been back at college for a few weeks now, but I've only just recently got internet access back. Plus the first few weeks are kinda chaotic so I didn't get around to blogging. I've still got some photos to upload from 180FM last year and a weekend away over the new year.

The start of the year is so stressful. And it doesn't help that I've been housesitting for my uncle in Granville. He's got 3 Maltese terriers that I need to look after. They wake me up every morning at 7am - arrghh! That 2 hours too early for me...

College work is quickly piling up. You can see that March will be a packed month for me. College bookshop is also going crazy, but that should hopefully slow down soon. Then there's mission preparation. Plus 180FM has started for another year. Leading the team is quite hard work, and sometimes it feels like I'm doing all the work (of course that's not true). And I've got some crazy Yr 7 boys!

So pray for my sanity! I can't be bothered writing out prayer points, but I think there's plenty there in the post for you to construct your own prayer points. ;)