Monday 2 December 2013

The little blog that could

First and foremost, a very short summary of the last year in a poem. (Just to put some spice into an otherwise boring life story!)

My final year of high school flew past.
Exams, assignments, study before breakfast.
Captaincy, meetings, then friends and family
All the more relying on God's majesty.

Now I'm back into the blogosphere, I feel like there is so much I could talk about! This blog has become my diary, and I feel if I don't type up my experiences, I will forget them. Amongst the overload of things I want to write, in my head I'm just singing "Just keep writing, just keep writing" (to the tune of Dory's annoying "Just keep swimming" song in Finding Nemo). So here goes quick fire paragraphs to bring you and me up to speed.

First, the much hyped but anticlimactical Hay Stacking Competition. I studied a surprising amount, in the library, making unofficial study buddies through glances across desks to motivate me to continue burying my head in the books. I am glad I did though, because I had been praying that I would study, and that is what happened, so God lovingly lavishing his grace upon me once again. During the exam period (3 weeks! With a 9 day period in between two exams!) I felt supernaturally sustained, through the prayers of all those in my church family. I cannot thank them enough, and thank God for them too. I never felt more blessed to be part of my church, I felt bad ever wanting to leave. 

Second, once my last exam had finally came and gone, my brother, who had just finished his thesis for his degree at uni, and I, left on a roadtrip all the way down to the Great Ocean Road and back along the South Coast. My version of "schoolies", I guess. I loved it, because it gave me something to do, to drive, and I got to see more of the beauty of Australia, and began to understand some of its geography better too. In typical guy fashion, most of the relationship building was subtle, but we did have good conversations too, which was good. I even got to be on the radio, for about 1 second, until my phone reception cut out, (although some say I was deliberately hung up by the radio presenter for blabbering about nothing...)

Third, fixing up all my uni preferences, hopefully going to study Arts/Education at Sydney University to become a high school teacher. I had an interview for a teaching scholarship where the interviewer seemed more interested about my Dad and his mission to Japan than me, but God was in control and the interviewer ended up telling me that just like my Dad I seemed to have very strong convictions that would be great as a teacher, assuring me I'd probably be offered the scholarship, which is nice.

Fourth and finally (alliteration!), I am preparing myself for a conference and mission called National Training Event, which is run by the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students, an organisation that organised Uni Christian groups. I will be going all the way to Narribri in rural NSW after the conference with a Sydney Uni team to help preach the gospel there, running scripture seminars, helping with the church services, and talking to people in the main street. I hope to write a reflection either everyday, or an overall one at the end of the mission, so keep posted.

If you have read this far, good job! I think this post had become much more like a personal diary entry, nothing really interesting or deep, just a blabble about my own life. It may have inspired you to go out and do some more evangelism, if it did, praise God! You can tell me about it in the comments!

Anyway, to end, the title of this post is "The little blog that could" because I think even after a 6 month hiatus, I think this blog with God's help can still be an encouragement to me and others, so I hope to continue it as long as I am able. I am thinking of creating a manifesto or something for this blog too, to define its purpose once again as my life heads in a new direction, but as always, it is your comments and your readership that encourages me to keep going, so thank you!