The terrible two's

This week my step-sister and her little toddler came and stayed for a couple of nights to kind of have an away from home holiday on the cheap.
I have to say that it has been eye opening to my understanding of children and maybe I dont want one that bad...

I (and others I am sure) would say that I love kids. However, for the fist time that I know of I saw what I would say was the 'other side' of childrens behaviour. Not that I hadnt looked after kids who misbehaved, just that I hadnt experienced it to that degree. There seems to be something about 2 when they are really naughty but still dont understand repercussions for their actions....apparently...

Wednesday night we went for dinner at the local Chinese restaraunt and baby Gideon decided that it would be a good idea to tip a bowl of singapore noodles over his head and throw everything he could get his hands on on the floor. That was just the start. During the 36 hours he was around, he threw a glass light fitting into the bath which exploded on impact, threw food everywhere, opened all my dvd's and left them face side down on the ground, damaged the venetian blinds, attacked my housemates laptop and nearly ripped the disk loader out of my xbox.
As a general rule, when they are being that way, they will throw anything they can lift, press any button they see, and generally try to destroy anything in their path.

Now, the reality of the situation is that he is 2 and that is apparently what 2 year olds are like. You cant hold that against them. I also should have thought of it beforehand and toddlerproofed my house but you live and learn. Also, Gideon is a lovely kid so dont think I am just paying out on him.

I guess the main point is that if you know what to expect with these type of things then you can be a little better prepared for them. Both mentally and orderly.

Long Weekend

Hi All,
While I want to continue with the Romans bible studies I thought I would update the goings on as well.
As I said in a previous post, I had a girlfriend for a bit but it didnt work out. One thing I have learnt is that when you get a girlfriend you have to make space for her in your life. Other things get adjusted this way or that to make the time needed for a relationship possible. Of course, if you end up breaking up with them, all of a sudden there is a big gap where they used to be. I dont mean soppy heart stuff (although it's painful of course) just that you seem to all of a sudden have alot of time on your hands. Initially that is great in that some stuff you didnt get to do, you go and do and so on. The trouble is that it doesnt last that long. As I found out last week, I was feeling really down because lots of the people at church are coupled up and as a matter of course end up doing that kind of stuff. Often it means they are unavailable because they have to go to a party of the girlfriend's friend for example. There is nothing wrong with that. It is a natural part of life. I was just finding it hard feeling like I hadnt done anything really social for a while.

So, that was last week. Since then, it has been a total turn around.

As I am a heart on the sleeve man I told a few close friends about how I was feeling. I have to say that their actions have been awesome. Thanks, of course end up going to God for that and the way he worked in my friends to cheer me up and get me back on track was great.
Friday night I organised for Tim and Jon and Kester to watch the opening ceremony and first game of the world cup at my house. From work to about 8pm I went to the pub with Kester and Cath. That was quite good. We then went back to my house and Tim brought over his xbox 360. We played a few games before the ceremony started. The guys went home after the first half of the Germany vs Costa Rica game (3am ish).
Saturday Jon had the cool idea to go op-shopping so we went to a couple of places in town and I got a virtually new Van Heusen buisness shirt for $12.
We had lunch after that in town and I went home to sleep the afternoon since I had about 5.5 hours sleep the night before.
Work up and went to Anne's house for dinner with Ben and Stacie, Matt A and Tina. It was a really nice night with Anne's usual brilliant cooking (we had souffle for dessert if that is an indicator). That was a good night with good fun and chats and a game of uno attack in there for good measure.
Went home at 10 because Tim and Jon were coming over for the England vs Paraguay game. Watched that which was good and went to bed after the game.
Sunday was nice too, I had a nice sleep in and did a whole stack of washing up and vacuuming etc etc. The house (at least downstairs) was looking good. I then went to my dad's house for his birthday which was an early dinner. After dinner I went home via my little bro's house to pick up some of his stuff (he is going back overseas-to Sweden this time). Got home, unpacked and went to church 45minutes late. Church ended up being quite good too. One of the girls was leaving which was kind of sad because she was cool. It was good to be able to say goodbye though.
Monday I had a BBQ lunch with Mark and Genno with Mark's parents. That was nice too. After that Mark came over to my house for role playing with the dudes. After role playing we went to Irwan's house to watch the Australia vs Japan game. Irwan wasnt very prepared though and the first half was watched with some pretty ordinary reception. During half time, Jon and Pete and I decided to watch the second half at my house which was a good decision because we could actually see the ball on the screen!:)
Last night after work I went and picked up a bed from my little bro's house too. He wasnt there because he flew out that afternoon but his mate helped me pack the car. I got home, unpacked it and we then had bible study. After bible study, I set the thing up, made my comfy new bed and went to sleep. Phew!

Anyone for tennis....

Romans Bible Studies - Part 1

Hello,
The last few weeks we have been going through Romans pretty fast. The idea is that we would study the second half in detail and so we fast tracked the first 8 chapters.
Pretty much everyone in the group really enjoyed the studies so I thought I would post them for all you dudes out in blog-land to use if you want.
I have put suggested answers in for helps sake. They are not meant to be exhaustive, just helpful. Also, some questions are fairly easy, but sometimes it is good to have a few easy questions in there to keep the ball rolling.

Romans Chapters 1-2 (we did chapters 1-3 but I dont have time to write it all now!:)

- Pray

- Read Romans Chapter 1:1-7
- Who is the letter from? Paul
- How does Paul describe himself? Called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God
- List the elements of the gospel that Paul mentions in his introduction.
- Who is the letter to? The saints (Christians) in Rome

- Read Chapter 1:8-17
- From this section, what is important to Paul? The church in Rome, preaching the gospel (note how many times he mentions it in this section.
- What do you need to recieve righteousness from God? Faith

- Read Chapter 1:18-32
- Who is the wrath of God being revealed against? Men who suppress the truth by their wickedness
- Can you say these people are acting out of ignorance? No, the truth is plain to them, God's power and nature is clear to them through His creation
- How does Paul describe their situation? They rejected God and so God gave them what they wanted.
- Again, what does vs 32 say about their actions? Though they know the truth, they choose to sin and encourage others to do so as well

- Read Chapter 2:1-4
- How could you as a Christian be thinking at this point? I'm not that bad, I havent done most of that stuff
- Where do we stand in regards to God's righteous judgement? We deserve judgement as well
- How are we able to repent? Through God's kindness

- Read Chapter 2:5-11
- When will God's righteous judgement be revealed? The day of God's wrath
- How does this help us when we see the guilty go unpunished? There will be a time when God will judge in righteousness and truth. He doesnt forget.
- What do we know about God's judgement? It will be completely fair and everyone will be judged to the same measure.

- Read Chapter 2:12-16
- Who is Paul talking about when he says "Those who sin apart from the law"? The Gentiles
- How will they be judged? According to the law on their hearts
- Who are those "under the law"? The Jews
- How will they be judged? By the law
- When will all this happen? Judgement day

- Read Chapter 2:17-24
- What is different for the Jews? They have the law. They are God's chosen people.
- What were the Jews supposed to do? Show God's glory to the world
- What were the Jews doing? Not practicing what they preached.
- And what was the result of this? God's name blasphemed instead of glorified.

- Read Chapter 2:25-29
- What is the important thing here? Keeping the law's requirements. What your heart is like
- Who's praise matters? God's
- Summarise Chapters 1 and 2. What is the overall argument so far?