Low Key Times

Things have been pretty low-key since the end of the college year. Nevertheless a string of little events has punctuated the beginning of holidays rather nicely.

I enjoyed the pinnacle of my tomato-year this afternoon as the first of our crop was declared ready for picking. Delish! For ages now I've been telling Noah that we have to wait for the tomato to turn from green to yellow and yellow to red, finally we could pluck it from the vine :)


There are many more on the way...


I'm fighting off caterpillars on the tomatoes; slugs on the beans; snails on the gardenia; and some other burrowing bug has nearly killed my coriander. I kinda like the challenge, actually. Keeping them all alive and healthy is a very satisfying adventure. Thank God for plants!

I feel I should briefly report back on how the rest of my exams went... They went well. Both Old Testament papers could have been much harder than they were. Church History, likewise, fell my way pretty nicely. I'll devote another post to sharing some of the joys/reminders/discoveries of my exam prep. But for now, thank God for the completion of second year. It really was a tough one and we feel the need for a good rest. As usual, my mates have been a great help and the college community out here (at the But) has really supported our family at some key points. Just fantastic.

Very briefly... My mate Tungy (a Chinese guy) took a bunch of us out to a Chinese restaurant (Fisherman's Wharf Seafood, at the Fish Markets) just after exams. It was spectacularly good. The Peking Duck was exceptional. Ahh! What a great finish to the college year!

Here Lies NT 2

So fourth term is all finished and we're in the thick of exams at the moment. On the Monday-Tuesday just gone, I sat the two New Testament papers.


The second exam was the one with all the Greek (the other one was the 'theology' paper). Providentially, of all the possible Greek texts that could have come up (and that's quite a lot), the paper had three passages on which I'd read the relevant sections of the commentaries that morning - so it was very fresh to my mind! Praise the Lord!

On a random note, here's my new Bible. It's light, and it sits flat on a lecturn while I preach. Hurrah!


Exam prep isn't all bad (actually much of it is really great learning and encouraging stuff). But sometimes you need to take a break. So here's 'the Bro' (Aidan) and Nelson (Suds' dog) at the Dairy Bell Icecream factory outlet. The Bro is one of my study crew 'The Brains Trust' - I love those guys. They are one of the biggest blessings in my college life, I reckon (personally, as much as academically).


While Kaylene was here, Kate and I made it down the road for dinner at the new Lebanese joint called Shishabar. Service was very smooth. Kate's pasta was average. My Shisha Platter was fantastic - the skewer of spiced lamb was delish. (Rubbish photo, I know).


Ok, so on the horizon from here are my two Old Testament exams. The second of those is especially terrifying (translate and comment on Hebrew). Then there's our (Reformation) Church History exam next Thursday. Please pray that I study the right stuff and can recall it at the right time. Though, it's a privilege, this kind of high-pressure study is pretty exhausting - pray that I can leave 'work' at my desk and not import all that stress into family-time, too.