Life's been a tough balancing act lately...too many new things on my plate at the moment.

College
College started 3 weeks ago, and for most of that time, I've spent most of my time working in the bookshop than I have studying or doing ministry. SMBC only has a very small bookshop, and managing it isn't all that much work - except at the beginning of the year. Everyone is rushing to get books, and I need to get lots and lots of stock. I have a new team of people to run the bookshop, but most of them needs to be trained (and during the early stages, there are a lot of mistakes...guess who has to fix them up). Things are starting to settle down now, so hopefully I'll be able to get stuck into some studying soon.

<< Thank God for the refreshing break over the holidays and for the start of another year at SMBC. Pray that I can quickly get into a good routine of study and rest so that I can make full use of what I'm learning. >>

Church
I've been at ND now for over 2 months, but I'm still feeling very new there. Still lots of faces I don't know yet. ND's new youth group - 180 - kicked off last Friday night with a big bang. I'm working with a team of 8 other leaders to run this high school youth group. Most of them haven't had much experience with youth or with teaching the Bible, so it's been hard work the past few weeks leading up to the launch.

By God's grace we had 36 kids turn up. But at this stage, it's hard to tell whether they came because of all they hype and out of curiosity. Hopefully they'll stick around for the year, especially all the many Yr 12 kids we have.

I'm also preaching my very first sermon at ND in 2 Sundays' time. I've been mulling over it for quite some time now, but still not too sure how to approach it. Yikes!!

<< Praise God for the great start 180 has had. Pray that the kids will be commited to the youth group and grow into maturity, and pray that it will attract non-Christians as well. Pray for the team of leaders and our relationship with one another. Pray that I can be sensitive and humble as it's the first time I've been part of a team (as opposed to leading one) for some time. And pray also for my sermon that the Holy Spirit may work in and through me to preach His Word clearly so that lives are changed for God. >>

South Events
Lastly, I've been doing a little bit of work for various South training and evangelistic events. It's a stressful load on top of everything else I'm doing, even though it's only at the back of my mind. Perhaps it's because that it's always at the back of my mind that it's so stressful. I'll talk about these more when the time comes. For now, just pray for my sanity!! ;P

PS Have you prayed for me yet? Don't just read it, but commit it to God!

Just got back from KYLC. A bit sleep deprived, but otherwise feeling great!

The theme this year was Radical Rule and we looked at the Psalms and Colossians. In strand 3 we looked at systematic theology (studying the Bible thematically).

The talks were really good (as usual). I particularly enjoyed the talks from the Psalms. John Woodhouse not only did a great job in expounding the passages, but also gave us a good framework of how to read the Psalms for ourselves. He was also willing to engage with difficult parts of the Psalms, like the bit about dashing babies on the rocks. We saw that the Psalms are not poems that we can use to reflect the joys and tragedies of life, but that they form a very important link between the Old Testament and the New Testament by pointing us to Jesus.

Steven Cree took us through Colossians. We were reminded to continue with Christ as our focus, just as we started with Him and nothing else, and to finish with Him till the end without being distracted by things of this world along the way. I was reminded not to impose rules for behaviour on those around me, but to exhort people to honour Christ in their words and deeds.

The strand groups were so-so for me. Mainly because I've already done that kind of stuff before. But it was funny though because I had Pete as one of my strand group leaders!! And as always I had lots of fun catching up with old friends and meeting some new ones.

One of my main reasons for going was to get to know some of the ND leaders, and that I did. We had some good discussions about the talks and strand materials as well as other interesting questions about Christianity.

<< Give thanks for the great week at KYLC and for the many things I had learnt and was challenged about. Pray that I can continue to build good relationships with the leaders at ND so that I can serve effectively with them as we teach the gospel. >>

This coming week is my last week of holidays before college starts. But it's not really "holidays", cause things for the start of the year has all of a sudden exploded and I've got lots of work to do - for college, for church and for the South region. Some details were in my latest newsletter (email me if you didn't receive it), but more info will be revealed in time.

<< Pray that I can change gear and get stuck into preparations. Pray that I can have the energy and wisdom to do my ministries well so that through me people can have the opportunity to grow in their understanding and relationship with the Lord Jesus. >>

It's great singing Christmas carols - well, the Christian ones anyways. The others are just kids songs at best and blasphemy at worst.

But I wonder why we don't sing Christmas carols throughout the year as well. The lyrics of most of them are applicable all year around. For example, imagine singing these on a "normal" Sunday:

Joy to the world! The Lord is come:
let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare him room,
and heaven and nature sing.

[...or]

Hark! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King,
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconcile.

[...or]

God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
Remember Christ our Savior
Was born on Christmas day,
To save us all from Satan's pow'r
When we were gone astray;

[...or]

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
Oh come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
come and behold him, born the King of angels;
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.

[...or]

Silent night! Holy night!
Son of God, Love's pure light
radiant beams from Thy Holy face,
with the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth,
Jesus, Lord at Thy birth.

Certainly none of these lyrics would seem astray from what we often sing, and perhaps even better. They are so full of the gospel!! If you are reading this, let me encourage you to ask the musos to sing them at church in a month's time.

Anyways, Christmas has gone for another year, and the New Year is just around the corner. But we shall continue to celebrate the birth of our King all year around.

This blog got mentioned on one of my fav Christian websites: Grace not Works.

Check it out here!!

Exams have finished and the preliminary results released. I wasn't too confident in any of my 3 exams, but I passed all of them, so all is well. Of course, passing isn't the most important thing when you're studying at Bible college, but it's still nice to pass so you can have an enjoyable holiday.

So now I'm bumming around with not much to do for the next few weeks. Trying to get started on my newsletter to wrap up the year, but...that's kinda work, so I'm procrastinating. :P

I'm house sitting for a family at college over the holidays. They live just down the road from SMBC, so in theory I could go over to the library and be really studious and read up on stuff for next year.

Nah.

You can see what kinda mood I'm in, can't you? (even without looking at the imood thing on the side) I've just been relaxing and sleeping a lot and not much else. Next week I'll start to be a bit more proactive and call/email people for lunch/dinner.

In the meantime...I'll keep vegging. =)

<< Give thanks to God for the past year and for the many things I've learnt at SMBC. Pray that it won't become merely theorectial knowledge but that I can understand it for my own personal growth and for ministry. Pray also that I will get good rest over the holidays and be refreshed for the new year. Pray that I can encourage people as I catch up with them and share with them God's goodness. >>

One down two to go...

Had my first exam today - Church History. Don't think I did crash hot, but nevertheless, it should be enough to pass. It was a pretty straight forward exam, except the stuff that I studied wasn't exactly in the exam.

I did a silly thing though. Made a grand entrance by turning up just in time. Everyone was wondering where I was and whether I slept in. Well, I didn't. I just kept thinking that the exam starts at 9am - which is true. So I planned to turn up at about 8:50am. Except that I forgot about reading time!! Which starts at 8:50am. Oops!

Perhaps a bit blasphemous for me to be borrowing these words, but anyways...

Last night for the first time ever, I:

• Wrote a 3,000 word essay (previously all my essays have been only 2,000 words)
  
• Stayed up all night to write this essay
  
• Sat in front of the computer for 15 hours straight with only 2 short breaks!
  
• Only got 45min nap before chapel started

Man, I am so thoroughly knackered at the moment! My eyes were going funny when I finished writing the first draft. I could barely read over it. But I had so much trouble writing this essay it was like trying to pull my own teeth out - very agonising! >:|

But at last it's done. I will have to start studying for exams now.

Though not before I have a very long appointment with my pillow first.

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