Almost Three Months.... ahhh.

This is now quite old news, but I didn't really want to blog about it until it'd all come to a resolution. Well, now it has.

Almost three months ago I was involved in an accident on my push bike. Basically a guy in a car pulled out in front of me, and there was no way I could avoid a smash. I was a bit hurt, but not badly; no lasting injuries. Thank God. It could have been a million times worse.


Anyway, the long and short of it is that the insurance company eventually paid me to replace my bike (the old one was a write-off). And now, finally, I've got my new, shiny, fast pushy. It's proving a really fun bike to ride. Although there have been months of inconvenience I'm really thankful that now, again, I've got a bike that I really enjoy riding.

Riding on Sydney roads... Now there's a topic we could talk about some time ;)

Two Down...

Today finished just smashingly. A nice pleasant walk along 'Stink River' (a not-so-affectionate name!), some time together at home, and the weight of my New Testament 2 essay lifted from my shoulders :)

These last few days have been pretty wall-to-wall wrestling with the role of the law in Romans (the topic of my essay). It's been a great ride: lots of learning, good discussions with mates, I've read some really helpful stuff. But I'm sure glad to have that assessment piece 'in the box'.

Which means these books can go back to the shelf!... or library :)


I also preached at church last Sunday on John 1:1-18. Once again I found myself really humbled by the truth, in that passage, that God has come into this world as a human being. That is a staggering truth whose ramifications are enormous for us muddle-headed, self-obsessed, God-ignoring humans. Anyway... best not to get me started! After all, I have about 30mins of material on the subject ;)

That just leaves a Philosophy exam, next Friday, between me and holidays. Thankfully my study group will be back in full-swing to make sure we all get through! I love those guys.

Teaching Scripture Fun

(Katie post - again!) One the highlights of my week (outside of playing with Noah!) is teaching Scripture at a local primary school. A friend looks after Noah while I and another friend spend just one hour teaching little ones about Jesus - I really love it. The material we are given to teach is mostly really good - I didn't realise there were such good resources, and it makes it so easy to do.
We teach a grade 5 class using the 'connect' teaching manual. We've been teaching them all about God's kingdom (using the parables of Jesus) and more recently about the death and resurrection. The class is pretty hard work to control - they do love to talk. But it's great when they ask questions and seem to think hard about what you're saying.

The other class is kindergarten. They are very cute, and love to raise their hand to answer a question. We've been teaching them about how God created the world, how humanity turned against him, and what God did to fix the problem (Jesus!). It's a really fun class, and I love being able to tell them the truth before they hear too many of the world's lies.
Teaching Scripture is such a huge privilege. We get to tell children (who have to listen to us!) about how they need to trust in Jesus to be friends with God. After doing a couple of classes, I've found it's been probably the easiest ministry I've been involved in - so much easier than teaching your peers in a bible study context, and alot less difficult than trying to share the gospel with a 'grown-up' who might not want to listen.

Something I found surprising about Scripture classes up in Sydney is that there a few different classes which parents can choose for their children to attend. There's catholic, protestant, Greek Orthodox, and I think Islamic. Or you can choose for your child to do none. It probably depends on the area as to which religions are on offer.

If you ever get a chance to teach God's word to school kids, do it - what an important job :)