Friday, September 17, 2010
Spring has sprung
Frolics in the gardens, the re-emegence of the lizards, the buzz of the bees, and the fragrant aroma of the wattle - spring has arrived.
The days will be getting longer as we approach summer, as we dig out our shorts, thongs and swimmers. Oh the joy! What a beautiful creation we have been blessed with!
The days will be getting longer as we approach summer, as we dig out our shorts, thongs and swimmers. Oh the joy! What a beautiful creation we have been blessed with!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
From The Page To The Screen Part Two
Emma L also got in on the act and had an article published in The Page.
Persepective of a Country Kid
I am a pure born and bred country kid. I grew up in Forbes and Muswellbrook, and you’d be excused if you hadn’t heard of either of these small towns. I like sleeping in paddocks with cows, under skies where the stars aren’t obscured by city smog. I like Akubra hats and riding horses. And I’m now a country kid in exile, studying in the ‘big city’ of Wollongong. Not that this is a bad thing at all − God has worked so awesomely in my life in my past few years in the ’Gong.
Back home I went to a public high school where amongst the fifty other kids in my grade I had no Christian friends. My church was small, and of the youth in my church, nearly half were related to me.
Me and the few other teens tried to start up a youth group but there was no one willing to help us with this so it fell through.
So with very little Christian contact and fellowship, I grew up calling myself a Christian although it didn’t have much of an impact on my life. I saw Christianity as going to church on Sundays and saying grace before meals, and trying to live a good life. I remember in about Year 10 I went to Hunter Harvest, which was a gathering of Christian teens in Newcastle. Switchfoot played; there was a speaker, and a lot of people - an incredible multitude of people. It made a big impression on me. I’d never realised there were so many other Christians my age, or that teenagers actually got passionate about Christ. When I got back I was filled with a drive to learn more about God. That was when I tried to start up the youth group back home. But with no one to help and not many other Christians my age I fell back into my old habits and forgot about it.
Fast forward till Uni. On enrolment day I approached the stall for the ECU and got talking with two of the staff workers. They explained some of the events ECU runs like the Lunchtime Bible talks and faculty bible studies. In my ignorance I had to ask them what a bible study was! I have since discovered the joys of bible studies and love meeting with my brothers and sisters in Christ to read God’s Word. At I-House and ECU I have found a great bunch of Christian friends and amazing fellowship. I’ve heard amazing talks and had great bible studies, and have seen people my age whose whole life was centred around Jesus.
I saw that God wasn’t just someone for old people to do rituals to on Sunday. He was relevant to this day and age, and the lives of people of all ages. In my two years of living in a city I have grown so much in my relationship with God and had so many wonderful opportunities I never dreamed of − such as going to conferences, hearing sermons from experienced preachers, and intense bible studies that have revealed God’s plan in greater depth to me. As much as I appreciate all the opportunities I’ve been blessed with, I’m very conscious of how different things are in the country. Whenever I go back home for holidays I see teenagers in the same situation I was, and not all of them will get the same opportunities as I have had. I recently took a small group to KYCK, and it was great to see their reactions. They said they hadn’t realised there were Christians their age, and they were so full of questions and eager to learn; it was very encouraging. But then I had to leave and head back to uni, and I know there is no one back home to work with and encourage them further. It is the same in country towns all over Australia, so many youth that are hungry for guidance and growth in Christ, but so few people who are able to lead them in this.
When I’ve finished uni I intend to move back to the country, where hopefully I can help out in some small way with the situation. But a lot more is needed. In Matthew 9:37 Jesus says “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few”. I definitely see this as the case in small country towns like where I grew up. This doesn’t mean we should all make a mass migration to the country (although it is always a mission field to consider), but I would appreciate your prayer. A verse later in Matthew 9 Jesus continues by saying “ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field”.
Finally, I urge you to appreciate the opportunities God has bestowed upon you here. Living in a city we are so blessed as there are so many great people willing to teach us – and teach us well from the bible. There is amazing Christian fellowship, particularly with people of a similar age to us. Just remember that there are so many people out there who lack what we often take for granted.
Persepective of a Country Kid
I am a pure born and bred country kid. I grew up in Forbes and Muswellbrook, and you’d be excused if you hadn’t heard of either of these small towns. I like sleeping in paddocks with cows, under skies where the stars aren’t obscured by city smog. I like Akubra hats and riding horses. And I’m now a country kid in exile, studying in the ‘big city’ of Wollongong. Not that this is a bad thing at all − God has worked so awesomely in my life in my past few years in the ’Gong.
Back home I went to a public high school where amongst the fifty other kids in my grade I had no Christian friends. My church was small, and of the youth in my church, nearly half were related to me.
Me and the few other teens tried to start up a youth group but there was no one willing to help us with this so it fell through.
So with very little Christian contact and fellowship, I grew up calling myself a Christian although it didn’t have much of an impact on my life. I saw Christianity as going to church on Sundays and saying grace before meals, and trying to live a good life. I remember in about Year 10 I went to Hunter Harvest, which was a gathering of Christian teens in Newcastle. Switchfoot played; there was a speaker, and a lot of people - an incredible multitude of people. It made a big impression on me. I’d never realised there were so many other Christians my age, or that teenagers actually got passionate about Christ. When I got back I was filled with a drive to learn more about God. That was when I tried to start up the youth group back home. But with no one to help and not many other Christians my age I fell back into my old habits and forgot about it.
Fast forward till Uni. On enrolment day I approached the stall for the ECU and got talking with two of the staff workers. They explained some of the events ECU runs like the Lunchtime Bible talks and faculty bible studies. In my ignorance I had to ask them what a bible study was! I have since discovered the joys of bible studies and love meeting with my brothers and sisters in Christ to read God’s Word. At I-House and ECU I have found a great bunch of Christian friends and amazing fellowship. I’ve heard amazing talks and had great bible studies, and have seen people my age whose whole life was centred around Jesus.
I saw that God wasn’t just someone for old people to do rituals to on Sunday. He was relevant to this day and age, and the lives of people of all ages. In my two years of living in a city I have grown so much in my relationship with God and had so many wonderful opportunities I never dreamed of − such as going to conferences, hearing sermons from experienced preachers, and intense bible studies that have revealed God’s plan in greater depth to me. As much as I appreciate all the opportunities I’ve been blessed with, I’m very conscious of how different things are in the country. Whenever I go back home for holidays I see teenagers in the same situation I was, and not all of them will get the same opportunities as I have had. I recently took a small group to KYCK, and it was great to see their reactions. They said they hadn’t realised there were Christians their age, and they were so full of questions and eager to learn; it was very encouraging. But then I had to leave and head back to uni, and I know there is no one back home to work with and encourage them further. It is the same in country towns all over Australia, so many youth that are hungry for guidance and growth in Christ, but so few people who are able to lead them in this.
When I’ve finished uni I intend to move back to the country, where hopefully I can help out in some small way with the situation. But a lot more is needed. In Matthew 9:37 Jesus says “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few”. I definitely see this as the case in small country towns like where I grew up. This doesn’t mean we should all make a mass migration to the country (although it is always a mission field to consider), but I would appreciate your prayer. A verse later in Matthew 9 Jesus continues by saying “ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field”.
Finally, I urge you to appreciate the opportunities God has bestowed upon you here. Living in a city we are so blessed as there are so many great people willing to teach us – and teach us well from the bible. There is amazing Christian fellowship, particularly with people of a similar age to us. Just remember that there are so many people out there who lack what we often take for granted.
From The Page To The Screen Part One
Karina is our resident poet and we thought we'd put up a few poems she contributed to our university's Christian newsletter The Page:
Beginning
in the beginning
the night swallowed me up like death
it stitched my eyelids down
& fear held my hand like a discomforting friend.
BUT (and it’s a merciful but)
the darkness was pierced in pinpricks of light
to shine their story to my unpicked eyes –
they began with just a god-breath
were dead before my body grew out of the darkness
they are an unweary light
proclaiming ‘i was thought of’
& we were thought of
as more than atoms of incidence
built by convention & broken by death.
so i have learnt to see an end without an end
a light that does not go out
or fade or be outshone
i see an all light
(where darkness is an afterthought that never comes)
& so tomorrow
the sky will break in shame
at a glorious new beginning.
For Grace
under appreciated like a cliché
or misunderstood like a cliché
the catching hands, the helping hands,
the hands that blister, bleed and bear the scars
of hands that did and do and
all your life and all your death
will it be so, undeservedly so
do not let a syllable be taken
upon the wind of other people’s voices
but be the sound of listening
to remember
the hands that held you
before your mother
before your father
before your tongue could taste the air
remember the hands
that made you, gave you
Grace.
garden
they were dry and snapped a part
upon the pressure of His fingertip.
they were leaves so dead and brittle
to His threshing rake.
He was Gardener
this was Life.
Beginning
in the beginning
the night swallowed me up like death
it stitched my eyelids down
& fear held my hand like a discomforting friend.
BUT (and it’s a merciful but)
the darkness was pierced in pinpricks of light
to shine their story to my unpicked eyes –
they began with just a god-breath
were dead before my body grew out of the darkness
they are an unweary light
proclaiming ‘i was thought of’
& we were thought of
as more than atoms of incidence
built by convention & broken by death.
so i have learnt to see an end without an end
a light that does not go out
or fade or be outshone
i see an all light
(where darkness is an afterthought that never comes)
& so tomorrow
the sky will break in shame
at a glorious new beginning.
For Grace
under appreciated like a cliché
or misunderstood like a cliché
the catching hands, the helping hands,
the hands that blister, bleed and bear the scars
of hands that did and do and
all your life and all your death
will it be so, undeservedly so
do not let a syllable be taken
upon the wind of other people’s voices
but be the sound of listening
to remember
the hands that held you
before your mother
before your father
before your tongue could taste the air
remember the hands
that made you, gave you
Grace.
garden
they were dry and snapped a part
upon the pressure of His fingertip.
they were leaves so dead and brittle
to His threshing rake.
He was Gardener
this was Life.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Chocolate Pudding
Torn between the memory of an amazing chocolate pudding and a re-run of Bewitched we are faced with the blank canvas of our blog. In all honesty we have nothing amazingly profound to say, but we're going to say nothing anyway. A few important things that you need to know about us:
- Karina puts weird things in the fridge. Like marshmallows, bread and peanut butter
- Emma L is OBSSESSED with all things the country. Sheep. Farmers. Cows. Akubras. Horses. Swags.
- Emma K loves ice cream, vanilla is the best. (It is evident who was in control of the keyboard)
Much Love,
The Emma Sandwich
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