Long weekend

On Australia day I went to a local park with some of the people from church for lunch. It was really nice. We just chilled out and chatted for a bit. Some of us played boules that Eltham had brought along. That was fun, especially the crazy 'across the little creek' ones we had happening. I left the park at about 2:30 and went down to stuart park to find the dudes playing cricket. Didnt really know where they were and after a while just gave up and went home. I slept for a couple of hours because I stayed up far too late on Wednesday night. Woke up and went into Wollongong proper to watch the fireworks which started at 9pm. We got there about 8 and tried to get donuts but they ran out. By the time we did that and chatted to a couple of people we saw while wandering around it was 9 and time for the goodness to begin. They were really good. Music accompaniment and all came together to create a great show. Overall it was quite a nice day.
We had a compulsory day off work Friday and I just did stuff like clean the house and paid the rent.
Over the weekend we had our planning weekend for Church where we planned out the years events and decided what days bible studies would be on etc etc. It was also really good. We got alot done and I think that this year at church will be really good with people growing and having a big focus on looking after people, both new and existing. Anne cooked for us which was brilliant of course. The only sad part about that was that on Friday night I stared the CSIRO health and wellbeing diet. The piles of awesome muffins, chocolate stuff and Sunday morning bacon had to be resisted with much anguish! That beinng said there were still lots of great healthy options which were very tasty anyway.

Holidays and Summer School

I have had other things to do and keep putting off writing this blog. No real reason except that I have had other things to keep me busy at lunchtime and so on.
To summarise my holidays I would say that they were very worthwhile. It was great having a solid 3 weeks off work and I think I really needed it. In hindsight 2005 was a bit of a disaster year with lots of hard times (lots of good ones too). Having the time off really helped to recharge, get perspective and start thinking about what I will be doing in 2006.
Last year I think I took on too much ministry stuff. Not that I did a poor job of it but I guess I started growing resentful that I was doing so much and missing out on things and so on. I dont think that is a smart way to go so I am pulling back the reins on what I am doing. Last year I led a bible study, did youth group 2 nights a week, met up with about 3 people once a week, did service leading, prayers, bible reading and music for sunday nights. I am also on the maintenance comittee. That was the regular stuff, not counting one offs! This year I will be doing bible study and maybe a service lead occasionally. I might meet up with a person or two as well.

As for specifics of what I did while I was away from work, the first week off was Christmas type stuff. I went up to Sydney and did various things with relatives. It was better than I had expected and that was nice. I got back to the Gong on about Tuesday (I saw Chronicles of Narnia on Monday in Sydney) and chilled out. It was quite relaxing. Dont remember anything too outstanding about the week between Christmas and new year. I know one night Kester and I played through Star Wars - Battlefront 2 (Christmas present) in one session. That was good. Other than that, it was pretty quiet - totally sweet. The week after New Years was pretty similar. A few nice social events but generally pretty quiet. Didnt mind that at all.

The third week I was away was CMS Summer School. It was sooo cool. We had morning talks on Ephesians (7 Talks took us through the whole thing), evening talks on Islam, relating to Muslims and information on some of the roots of the palestinian conflict. It was very informative and helpful to understand what some of the issues people are facing these days.
Apart from that there were quite a few helpful missionary sessions with the topics from social justice to what to do to become a missionary. There were roughly 5 sessions at a time so you could pick the one you wanted. For summer school you have to sort your own acommodation and food for the week and for the second year running I camped with the Chapmans. Kester and Cath were there for 3 nights and Suze was there the whole time as well.
The format is that you have a morning session between 9ish and 12:15, then there are no sessions until 7 that evening. It means that as well as great teaching you are able to have plenty of time to relax and enjoy Katoomba and the blue mountains. In free time I was able to: do the 1000 steps/giant staircase round trip (near the 3 sisters), go to the local pool, have lunch in town at a nice cafe, and have devonshire tea at the Hydro Majestic.
Other than that goodness, I was able to kind of have a bit of an adopted family for the week in the form of the Chapman's and the Grinter's. Apart from the few days Kester was there I was pretty much the only man of the group. It was cool hanging out with the kids and doing my 'man duties' such as hunting down and gathering water for the camp.
The only down side was that due to the rain, setting up and packing up was a bit of a pain. It didnt bother me too much but I certainly loved my post-camping shower at home and being able to put on some truly dry clothes. I quite enjoy outdoor stuff so it didnt bother me much really.
So, all in all, a great time of being refreshed in Gods word, rehoning my focus and encouraging me to continue on where I am. I think that the current plan will be to work for the next 2 years (most likely in Wollongong, but who knows) and then go straight to SMBC in 2008. God may change that of course but that is the plan for now!

TAG

Ground Rules: The first player of this "game" starts with the topic "5 Guilty Pleasures" and people who get tagged need to write an blog entry about their 5 Guilty Pleasures as well as state this rule. In the end, you need to choose the next 5 people to be tagged and list their names.
1. Sleeping in. There's something great about not having to get up at a certain time. Being able to just further relax and if you want to, go back to sleep.
2. Riding my motorbike. The feeling of the wind in your hair doesnt actually exist due to a full face helmet but it is a great feeling. Acceleration and cornering are probably the best parts.
3. Playing Xbox. I have a chair at home that Mark E has dubbed the 'pole position chair' due to its ease of placing directly in front of my 80cm TV for xbox gaming. It is way comfy and is one of those Ikea ones that rock. Totally sweet.
4. Hanging out with friends. I would say that I am a fairly social person (however I do need to have time alone to recharge). It doesnt really matter what we get up to but just generally kicking around with friends or maybe going on an adventure of some kind is always heaps of fun. (I dont know if I would put this under '5 guilty pleasures' but I certainly love doing it).
5. Consuming food and beverage. Thanks be to God that one of the acts required for sustaining life is so good! I guess he could have made it boring but he didnt. My cup truly does overflow!
So, who to tag... I will say Eltham, Simon, Sal, Janet and Matt. If anyone wants to just tag themselves though, dont let me stop you.