It is a great thing to be at a happy college.
People want to be here, people enjoy being here and people enjoy the other people who are also here.
International day was a great way of expressing a little bit of that joy, while also working in the appreciation of being part of a diverse & fascinating world!
We have students from all over the shop. China, Egypt, Austria… even Tasmania!
It’s great to see some people express their childhood reality through their dress, or maybe some food that they brought along. We also have lots of people wearing stuff that they had bought on mission trips, or things they have in preparatin for trips.
Anyway, I don’t really feel like writing too much about it. I just thought I would share one or two shots that captured a little bit of the vibe.

Pity the poor fools who are to our right, Kerridges left, as he does a little impromptu dancing, while Bainy was playing the bagpipes.

Phil “The Guru” Singline shows off the master of all moustakas!

OK, so Owen wasn’t dressed internationally, but you have to love a look like this on a lecturer!
Post Script: I have updated my links finally, so there are some new fellas down the bottom!

Do you have little habits that you maintained as a kid that you lost in time?
Did you display behaviours that you no longer feel you have the discipline for?
Who are the friends, once so close, who you’d like to be close to again?
OK, so there are two real lines of questioning there, cause I have two little stories to tell.
I enjoyed most of my childhood. I occasionally lamented the fact that we didn’t have any other kids that grew up on our street. In fact, we had a hospital for the terminally ill on our street, so residents were a lot closer to dispatching than hatching on the life-scale. That said, it wasn’t that big an issue. Weekends with the family friends like the Bevans , and my brother to keep me company during the week (Amy, my sister remained a bit of an enigma to me till later in life).
A big part of why life was fairly easy was because I had a plethora of special friends that could keep me company. Leguin, Lewis, Tolkien and Rosenberg. I was a tireless reader! At one stage in year 8 I was reading up to 100 pages a night! They were glory days.
But work crowds such things. Time becomes more valuable & opportunities fade & die. A couple of years ago I realised that despite a reputation as a Bibliophile, I barely read at all! It was never a plan, but I had slowly starved myself of that lovely habit.
Well, it has been something that I have been working on for the last little while & so far this year I have come good. I am cruising through a number of different books & loving every second of it. The Irony has been that it hasn’t really impacted on my ability to get work done. If anything, I find myself rejuvinated by the reading & ready to do more effective study!
It’s like finding an old friend.
Speaking of which, I was lucky enough to go out to dinner the other night for Als’ 30th Birthday party. I have known Als for 15 years now, but it has been a good 4 years since we have hung out a couple of weeks in a row. Well, it is great to see that some friends you just seem to get on with & the whole time thing doesn’t matter. Dinner on Friday night was awesome! Not only did I get to catch up with Als, but a bunch of other old-school crew too!
So, here it is.
Cheers to those things ones lost.
And here’s to those who return.
Finally, a couple of pics to capture the moments…

This is me reading up on Manly head. A great place to finish “How we are Hungry” a collection of short stories by Dave Eggers.

Als & Jen, Sisters, show off their “Blue Steel”, ala Zoolander.

Flux.
It’s not a big one, but I think it doesn’t get used enough.
[An aside: I have enough of the bigger words with study at college. I got a small round of applause for correctly pronouncing my question “So is the Pseudepigrapha deuterocanonical”… OK, I will send you something nice if you can tell me what either of those words mean without looking it up!!!!)
It’s a shame. We feel it. We know it. It’s the flux baby! Everything is always changing.
Ask me what I am going to do in two years? It’s in a state of flux.
Ask me what I am going to be doing in two day? Dang flux..
My favourite subject? Flux
My next chance to hang out with the family? Starts with an “F”, ends with a “lux”
Do I like any girls at college or beyond? Flux
I kind of enjoy it all.
I guess such enjoyment lies in the security of God’s Sovereignty. If I am seeking to serve God in what I do & stuff like that, then I trust that He will sort these things out in his own good time. Of course, in the mean time, I am not absolved of my responsibility to prepare myself though all avalable avenues for His service, but I can also enjoy the ambiguity.
OK, ready for your next big word? If you are a study of theology, then it is less difficult… Here comes.
“Overrealised eschatology.”
It’s been preparing a sermon on 1 Corinthian’s 15 that has had me thinking about this. Our brothers in Corinth, Circa 70A.D. thought that this life was all they had. Some had given up on the idea of a resurrection. They thought God’s redemption & promised kingdom had come. What they had was what there was to have. Experience it now, enjoy it as you can, because it doesn’t last long.
[another big word… you could call them proto-gnostic]
They lost focus on the great truth. Christ was raised! He conquered death eternally & promises the same thing to those who trust in Him.
So, a year and a half into a degree, it is great to be reminded of a simple truth. Death has lost it’s victory, and death has lost its sting!
So, I suppose I am not really in that great a rush.
So lets enjoy that flux.
In other News:
If you have made it this far through my blog, then you deserve to be a part of my little competition. It seems other people have been enjoying playing “truth or dare” on their blogs. I enjoy the game & am always up for a bit of that if anyone is ever inclined to ask a question in the comments section, but I thought I might start up something more my style.
So here is the challenge.
Give me a subject.. That is, a subject that is doable for a College student who doesn’t have a lot of money or an inordinate amount of time, and I will have to take a picture over the following week that encaptulates the subject matter!
So there you go. Simple, clean and clear. Bring it on people!

Can I say how much I hate the word “Bling”!
Now I have to be careful. Most of my Antipodean friends would claim that I am a great user of North American affectations. They may even be right, but that doesn’t stop me frong cringing and bristling every time I hear jewelry referred to as such.
Were Silver or Gold to be sentient, I am pretty sure it would melt off the fingers of any such faux fashionistas and head posthaste to the earth, rich, sweet and real. Of course, that via the throat of its ex-owner (and I mean that in the “they are no longer with us” sense of the word “ex”).
Kirsty is not a “Bling” kind of girl.
Of course, I mean this in the best possible sense. She certainly has style and flair! But her elegance comes in a classic, effortless style that refuses such poxy, fleeting terms.
Kirty turned 30.
So this is a pic of Kirt showing off her latest birthday acquisitions.

I only just noticed the bandaid on the thumb. Possibly the result of an injury earned in the line of duty as a teacher. Always in the fray.
So, Friday night was Kirsty’s 30th. An awesome night, first and foremost because it is great to see such a cool chick with so many of her friends around, but equally awesome because it was a chance to catch up with a bunch of old friends.

From left to right, Ronnie, Geneveive, Me, Cate & Kirsty.
Four good friends from my school days were there. Ronnie, Jacqui , Geneveive and Cate. I hadn’t seen Ronnie in over a decade (and I have never spelled her name, only spoken it… so apologies if I got it wrong), and Jacq & Gen I don’t get to see as often as I would like, so that was awesome.
so there were many people ladies looking lovely, and with me knowing primarily chicks there, I looked quite like the ladies man, man’s man, man about town!

Of course I love catching up with my old friends!
Well there you go. It was a great way to finish of my holiday weeks. I told the girls that I would write about them & I’m not a liar (Jacq, how did you escape the group picture? You will get your own one soon).
So, Kirsty, Cate, Gen, Jacq, & Ronnie. True examples & class and style.
And no need for a single “Bling”

I love the “fisheye” style pool shots!

So, Kristin says that she misses the proper blogs, where I write more stuff. I have a couple of those in the pipes, but it is getting late tonight, so you are going to get a couple of fairly mindless things.
Firstly, again from a suggestion from Kristin, a guessing game! (This also comes from Mal’s various shots at this game!)

What am I? Even if you can’t be bothered reading the rest of the post, have a shot at the picture guessing.
So there you go.
Secondly, just for those who are curious, 60 seconds of what I am up to at the moment.
Studying: 1 Corinthians as I work on an essay.
Reading: Still working on my Balzac novel, but a weekend in the Hunter saw me start a book called “The Reader” by a German guy called Bernhard Schlink. An interesting novel about post WWII Germany & a war crimes trial… in a love story!!!
Listening: To the Cat Empire’s new CD & Bernard Fannings new CD.
Eating: a hamburger tonight that had a 500gram (that is a little over a pound!) meat pattie. I have to say that it was surprisingly average.
Seeing: Matty & Lisa Richmond, who deserve congrats for the birth of Willian Graem Miller Richmond last week!
Shooting: Pictures with Kirsty tomorrow afternoon!
sleeping… in about 5 minutes, God willing.

(Adam after a dip)
So we went down for a bit of a BBQ down in South Cronulla. Too much meat, not enough beer and just the right amount of good company! Colin & Cath, Adam, Amy, Megan & I.
So the holidays have arrived. I’m still getting work done, just none of it today! I went from BBQ to drinks at the CPH (Croydon Park Hotel) to dinner in Newtown to more drinks at the Marley with dudes from Moore College, and finally to hanging out in Chappo House at Moore.
Academically, yeah it was a waste. But dang it was fun!

Boys & BBQs!

The air just seems to have a longer memory when it is Autumn. The scent of flowers hangs forever. I could smell the chicken shop a block and a half away.
The walk down to the shops was a revelation. This, brothers and sisters, this is the best time of year! The sun seems to have been milked of its summer venom. Instead, the direct light wraps you in a grandma hug, while the shadows are cool and slow. They hold the threat of darker things to come, but for the moment it is peace, calm and comfort.
Pavement cool under foot. Bitumen remains unmelted. The options are everywhere. Walking on the grass, walking on the pavement, walking on the street, it’s all good cause everything’s sweet! Do I wear shorts or long pants? It doesn’t matter because everything is “yes” in Autumn!.
On the home front, the Doona (Comforter) has made its appearance, but it is still a matter of choice. The fan is staying off, but the heater isn’t yet on.My favourite t-shirt by day, my coolest jumper by night.
You can keep your stinging summers. pink skin & blistered asphalt toes have never appealed. The bleak gray winter need not apply either. For once, this once clear moment, to be middle-of-the-range is to be the best. To be average is to be on top!
So there you go. A day off from mission, some time off from worry. No expectations, no real concerns, Just some warm grass, a cool breeze, a Balzac novel (Second shot at “Old Goriot”) and a quiet heart.
Oh that Autumn lasted forever!

Day Three started with 3 Scripture lessons. They went really well!
Part of the afternoon was spent at the beach. Taking pictures of students surfing (at a teachers request). A fun afternoon. Here are a couple of the shots.

The wall.

Wipeout

Surveying the scene

As the days start to cool down, it becomes an attractive prospect to lie down on a couch indoors & enjoy a little sunlight through the window.
Wouldn’t you agree B2?

6am wake up, do a little study, put on my game face. 8am drive, pick up Naomi, Lisa and Fiona, drive to ‘the Shire’, find Inaburra Christian School. 9:30 am, run a ‘Kids Church’ session. Midday lunch. 1pm-5pm… pretty much just faff around & get myself ready for he night service.
6:30pm is night service, 7:20PM I stand up to preach. 7:37 I am done.8-something I have finished being social, 9 something I have dropped the girls off, picked up Subway & I am back at college. 10pm I am cursing the dryer that has busted, meaning I have very limited clothing options tomorrow morning. 11:02… time to send a web page updatte. Not so interesting, but to be expected after busy enough day one for mission…

This is Alyssa from Iron and Clay. Weird, cause I met this band in a previous incarnation in my old Vision Valley days.