Moving to Canberra.....FInally.

After living out of a suitcase for the last 3 months I finally get to move to Canberra this weekend.
Although living and working in Sydney has mostly been fun, I am really looking forward to my new home. It will be great to start to make life in Canberra. I look forward to going to my new church 'Crossroads' and getting involved there.
Last Sunday was kind of sad really. It was my last night at St Michaels Wollongong and I will miss being able to see my friends that often.
I am driving down to Canberra after Simon and Amanda's wedding this Saturday. I will then have all day Sunday to unpack some critical boxes and start setting up my room before work on Monday! It's not too bad though, I moved all of my stuff down there at the end of November so at least I dont have to do that bit too!:)
Should be fun!

Summer School

Over the last week I have been at the CMS summer school.
This year is my 3rd summer school and I have to say that just as the previous summer schools, it has been alot of fun.
The talks this year were given by William Taylor and I have to say that they have been possibly the best so far.
William spoke on the gospel of Matthew. He particularly focused on chapters 8-13. The focus of the week was understanding the times in which we live.
William showed us the way in which the gospel of Matthew is so well ordered in it's argument.
Matthew 8:1-22 was on sin, God's judgement and the shadow of death, Jesus God's King and the reversal of death, and The cross, Jesus death and the payment of death.
Mathew 8:23-9:13 was on faith, not fear, people not pigs, sin not sickness and 'sick' not well.
Matthew 9:14-10:15 was on Times of clear headed Kingdom conviction, Times of gut-wrenching Kingdom compassion, Times of earnest prayer, and Times of sustained public proclamation.
Matthew 10:16-33 was on Unprrovoked persecution and heavenly provision, and Ruined reputation and heavenly recognition.
Matthew 10:34-42 was on the 'ties' of the kingdom. A change in family relations, As a result of a change in family values, bringing a change in family fortunes.
Matthew 13:1-33 was on the advance of the kingdom by God's initiative, with God's judgement, through God's word, with mixed results. In God's power, with hidden force.
Matthew 13: 31-52 was on The advance of the kingdom, alongside the enduring presence of evil, with deliberate delay and decisive decision. This is with joyful 'inexplicable' investment.

We learned that Matthew's gospel is extremely organised and that the order of each chapter is deliberate and focused.

In point form, the main things I got from the talks were:
- There will be no golden age where Christians are well respected and valued
- Jesus spoke and things happened just as the father in creation
- the structure of Matthew's gospel in these chapters is narrative then discourse, then narrative
- the 'sticking plaster' solutions of this world will never solve anything
- Jesus has 'come early' to save sinners from the coming judgement.
- for a brief moment heaven came to earth in Jesus.
- now is not the time for finger wagging moral high-horsemanship.
- we need to pray. ALOT!!!
- we are living in non-normal times in the western world
- we are to expect alot of persecution.
- we are to recieve a royal recognition in heaven
- Jesus spoke in parables so that people would have to come to Him to seek the answers.
- dont be discouraged by the different soils in the parable of the sower.
- we are told the parable of the sower so not to be discouraged.
- compare Jesus' kingdom to the kingdoms of the day. Where is the Roman empire now? etc?
- there will always be evil in the world this side of Jesus' return.
- Jesus return is deliberately delayed so that more people may turn to Him.

Although summer school is much more than this, I thought I would share with you what I was reminded of. What I enjoyed and not so enjoyed I will write about later.
Stu

Christmas

Hello all you out in blog land.
I thought that it was high time that I pause with the all deep and meaningful posts and just say what I have been up to.

Christmas was quite nice. I did pretty much exactly the same as last year but I enjoyed it more. I guess I have been getting more out of that stuff lately which is really good. Christmas eve I went to my cousin's townhouse in Artarmon for a cool BBQ lunch and hang out. That was good because I dont see my cousins very often.

Christmas day I went to church with my dad and Helen (step mum). Grrr! Why do people have to give such watered down sermons at Christmas! The guy talked about the historical biblical context of the Christmas story which I thought was a good idea but then he basically said that Jesus was God's back up plan when option A (the covenant with Moses) didnt work the way He wanted. Clearly the bible says that God has only ever had one plan.
Why does that matter? Well it's not in the scope of this blog, but if people arent sure why it is an important issue I can write about it later.

After church I went with Dad and Helen to Helen's daughter's family's house to watch their kids unwrap their presents. After that it was to the Helen's son's house to say 'hi' for an hour or so. Then off to Mum and Terry (step father)'s house to hang out with them for Christmas lunch. That was quite nice and I was able to see Mum and Terry and the Terry related people.

Due to the better pay of the new job I was able to buy nicer presents for people which I really quite enjoyed. On the recieving end, Dad and Helen gave me a Westfields voucher. Helen's Daughters family gave me some coffee mugs, Mum and Terry gave me a Myer voucher and a couple of nice polo style shirts. My step sister Jenni gave me a 6 pack of beer and so did Terry's brother's family.

I can see that, for me at least, the effect of having more money means that I am able to take much more pleasure in the giving than the recieving. The giving doesnt hurt that much financially, and the recieving isnt such a big deal (I could just go buy some item I really wanted). I would probably say that another year's maturity is in there somewhere as well but these things still seem interesting to ponder in the whole 'where do you get your contentment from?'.
I am increasingly becoming aware of how easy the trap of loving money is to fall into. Please pray that I love God above all.