Counting down...

Today is the first day of stuvac, and my first exam (Pentateuch) is on Friday. This is the exam that I'm probably most unprepared. We had 3 lecturers for this subject focussing on different parts of the first 5 books of the OT. But one of the lecturers I found to be quite hard to follow and I'm disappointed to admit that I didn't learn a whole lot from his lectures. So now I have lots of reading to do to try and patch up the holes in my learning.

My second exam is Church History. That one is a bit of a worry too, 'cause I have no background knowledge of history, so that means I haven't learnt any of it before and I have lots of new information to remember. It's one of my most interesting subjects, but also one that will take a bit of work. But at least I've got good lecture notes for this so I don't have to do any research.

And lastly is my Biblical Theology exam. This one shouldn't be too hard. We have been give half the exam paper already, so we can be really well prepared - but that also means that really good answers will be expected! I probably won't be able to study for it till after my Church History exam. So the 2 days after that will be cram, cram, cram! Not ideal learning, especially since I'm reading God's Word...hope to improve on that in the future.

I've had a few people tell me lately that they have been visiting my blog and actually praying for me. Thanks heaps!!! People have been very faithful in sending financial contributions, and a few other people have also mentioned that they would like to also support me in this way. I haven't been able to thank everyone individually, but I hope you guys know how much of an encouragement that is! =D (I hope you guys are reading this!)

<< Thank God for His love and grace in providing me with so many faithful brothers and sisters in Christ who support me in so many ways - prayer, transport, money, lunch/dinner, accomodation, the odd word of encouragement, even just understanding my limitations in ministry. Pray for these fellow workers in the gospel that God will continue to bless them abundantly in their godliness and understanding of His Word. >>

I doubt if I'll have time to blog again in the next 2 weeks until my exams are over. But I'll try and get started on my newsletter afterwards!

Again, I have failed my readers on this blog. No updates for like a month. It's become a regular habit, isn't it? =(

Even without me telling you, I'm sure you can guess that it's been incredibly busy. If you've been keeping track of my assessment schedule, you'll see that I had a lot of assignments due. And though I really don't like writing essays (still don't after a few months), I am learning heaps through the research and in the lectures.

Especially in church history. I never like history in high school 'cause I didn't want to memorise people and dates and events that were largely irrelevant to me. But I've discovered that history is not irrelevant, and even more so in church history. So much of what has happened in the past still has an impact on us today. And much of the struggles of the church and for the individual christian has been faced in the past and discussed. Very, very interesting to learn about!

I think what's been keep my most busy though is church ministries. I've enjoyed teaching Romans over the past few week (although it's HEAPS of work preparing it and thinking about different ways of leading it). I've been reminded about a lot of things I learnt a few years ago when studying Romans.

Organising SCCCA was another HUGE task! We had two of our seminars pull out on us at the last minute! >:( We almost killed ourselves trying to find someone else to do it. It was also hard to find time to prepare my seminar on Biblical Theology - I mean, how do you cover the whole Bible in 90 mins?!? I don't think I did very well in my seminar, probably 'cause I had too much material. But we had a good turn out on the day and about 30-35 people came. Still thinking about how to improve it for next time...

Well, that's a quick update of what's been happening. The outlook for the next few weeks is much the same. Except that instead of having lots of assignments, I now have lots of exams coming up. And instead of thinking about SCCCA, the next big thing is RICE - more about that in weeks to come.

Stay tuned and keep praying. Forecast for next update is in 2 weeks - right before exams start!

I've neglected this blog quite a bit lately...sorry! It's hard to get back into writing once you stop. Writing's never been one of my strong points. Esp now when I have to write thousands of words for essays at college. Eek! It's almost like torture for me!

Easter holidays was pretty good for me. I got a lil' bit done the first week before I went to camp. Camp was excellent. I did indeed catch up with some of my old Sunday School kids. It's only been two years, but they've all grown and changed in so many ways. I spent most of my time with the boys, and it was good to be able to hang out with them and not be their teacher anymore. And it was encouraging to see some of them serving now in ministry, some even co-leading Bible studies.

My seminar went pretty well too (from my perspective anyways). People were interested and had lots of questions to ask. I think they got the main idea I was trying to get across to them. The talks from Ephesians were clear too and The food and sleep was decent. But after coming back I've been feeling quite lethargic and unmotivated to work. :(

<< Thank God for the rest over the holidays and for the enjoyable time at church camp. Pray that I can get back into the mood to study. >>

I've got a few essays to work on at the moment and we are starting our Romans studies this Fri at EYF. I've got a talk to prepare for next Fri and the South region SCCCA training day is coming up on 15th May. It's a bit mind boggling at the moment. I'm struggling a bit with it, but just keeping my head above water...

<< Pray that I can continue to enjoy what I am learning at college and to enjoying serving people in ministry. >>

Back into the full swing of things...for a week anyways. I didn't do as much work as I had hoped to do last week. But then again, no one ever does. At least I got one essay finished. Had a Greek quiz today and then an ethics quiz tomorrow. After that, I gotta get stuck into my Mark exegesis essay.

We only have lectures for this week, and then we're off on holidays for Easter! Woo hoo! I guess it'll be more like a working holiday, since there's a fair few assessments to get stuck into. And I'll be away at the WS church camp over the long weekend. Other than running a seminar on apologetics (ie answering tough questions about Christianity), it should be a pretty good relaxing time. I especially look forward to catching up with some of the kids I used to teach back in 2000 and 2001.

<< Thank God for Research Week and being able to have time to knock over some assessments. Pray that I can continue to be disciplined over the Easter break. Pray also for my seminar at church camp and pray that I can have a good time to relax and to catch up with people.>>

As usual, Easter is a good time to reachout to friends with the news of the gospel. At church, the Simply Christianity course is coming up to its last week this Friday. I don't know what kind of response to expect from them. But timed nicely together is 2 other evangelistic events right after its conclusion. First up we have the "Trial of Jesus" on 4th April. The church will be set up like a court room and the case is "Is Jesus dead?" Basically we want to show people that there is credible evidence for the resurrection of Christ, and to invite each person to make a decision about it. Then the following week, we have a person from Jews for Jesus coming to speak on the significance of the resurrection for a Jewish Christan.

<< Please pray that all these various events will be able to present the gospel well and encourage people to see the truth and importance of the resurrection. Pray that the hearts of non-Christians will be challenged to respond to this truth rather than just acknowledging (or even rejecting) it. >>

Tomorrow night, I'll also be having dinner with a bunch of high school friends whom I haven't seen for ages. It'll be interesting to see their response when they find out I'm at Bible college. None of them are Christians as far as I know, though one of them has been interested for some time but not willing to make a committment yet. Most are nominal Catholics, quite intelligent (ie 95+ for TER/UAI), career orientiated, and generally uninterested in religious things. But I hope that I can use Easter and Bible college to bring Jesus up in conversation and to challenge them as well.

<< Please pray that God may open opportunities for me to tell the gospel to my friends. Pray that I may be bold and not shy away from the topic of Jesus. Pray that I can be a good witness to them, and that they will be interested in talking about it. >>

By now, all of you should have received my latest newsletter. If not, let me know and I'll send it again. It's actually quite hard to send bulk emails, 'cause there's all these restrictions as to how big your email can be and how many people to send it to at one time. I don't know how spammers manage it!?!

I'm starting to cope a bit better with time here at college now. Not quite there yet, but I'm not procrastinating as much and I'm starting to make use of the small blocks of time. There's regular stream of assessments due now (average of one a week), and I really gotta get stuck into them. At the same time, I don't want to have my head stuck in a book all the time. I need to be spending time with people and serving and encouraging them.

Next week is Research Week - which means that there will be no lectures on and we can focus on getting some of those assignments done. Well, that's the idea anyways...Let's just hope I don't waste it!

<< Thank God that I'm slowly adjusting to college life and improving in my time management. Pray that I can be disciplined next week and use my time well to complete my essays. Pray also that I can be continually spending personal time with God in my quiet times. Pray especially that I will be able to keep building relationships with my the staff and with fellow students and not be forever hidden in my room. >>

An update on the Simply Christianity course I'm running at EYF. Tomorrow will be the 3rd week of the course. So far, we've had 2 non-Christians who've come both weeks, and 3 who have come for only one of the two weeks. Hopefully we'll have all 5 of them this time. A pat on the back for those who've been bold enough to invite their friends. =)

Generally, I think it's going ok. It's always hard to tell with a new group. People are a bit shy and awkward. And they hardly ever (or never) go to church. They all have fairly different backgrounds. They don't seem to have a lot of questions at this stage, which I don't know if it's a good or bad thing. But at least they don't seem to have a lot of pre-conceived ideas and are pretty open to the material I present to them. But I do hope that they are understanding it all and that God will use it to change their hearts.

This week we're looking at Jesus' mission - to seek and save the lost.

<< Praise God for these people who've turned up to learn about Jesus. Pray that I can be clear and faithful in explaining the gospel, and that God will move them to be challenged and in reponse turn and accept Christ as Lord and Saviour. >>

It's towards the end of week 3 here at college. Assessments are starting to pile up now and my schedule is filling up with stuff. I've started a new section on the left with some of the upcoming stuff so you can pray for me.

<< Give thanks to our God that I am really enjoying my time at SMBC. Pray that as I start to write essays and do exams that this will not become an academic exericse but instead a life changing one as God's Word lives in me. >>

Every year, SMBC is involved with a number of different missions around Australia and even overseas. Just found out that I'll be involved with a large mission in Nowra in September. I have no idea what the place is like and what we'll be doing, but I look forward to getting to know my team of 20 and working together for the gospel.

<< Pray that I can get to know the people on my mission team and that we can work well together. Pray for the lost in Nowra that God may prepare their hearts now so that they will be ready to receive the good news of our Lord Jesus christ. >>

At church we are starting a 5 week Simply Christianity course this Friday! It's a very exciting time for EYF as it is the follow up to our first outreach event a few months ago. I'll be leading the non-Christian group while Jeremy leads the Christian in doing some training for evangelism.

<< Please pray for the hearts of the non-Christians as they come to know Jesus through the Gospel of Luke. Pray that they will be teachable and will ask good questions. And pray for me too that I may teach the Word of God faithfully and clearly so that these non-Chrsitians will have an opportunity to understand and respond to the gospel. >>

As expected, it's been a hectic week! With church ministries and college lectures & assessments, I hardly have time for anything else right now.

Thanks to everyone who've asked me how I'm going and have been praying for me. You have been an invaluable source of encouragement. I'm enjoying everything so far and staying awake in lectures! :P But I just need to organise my time a bit better and prioritise things.

Especially with my church ministries as well. It's still kinda the start of term so there's a few Bible studies & related stuff I gotta sort out. And in particular I'm trying to do more personal ministry with the leaders, but it's much harder to find a time that works well with my college timetable and is good for them too.

And I haven't even made a start on my newsletter yet! Ack! >:(

<< Thank God for my faithful brothers and sisters who are in partnership in the gospel with me. Please pray for strength and wisdom as I try to manage my time and work load. Pray also for my relationships with people at church that I won't be too focused on things to do and end up neglecting them. >>

And just a gentle reminder: if you've been reading this blog but you haven't been praying for me - please pray for me! I need God's help! :)