newtownlife

Then there was St Ali

2009-12-03T21:05:00.000-08:00

Jen and I had a mad day of Melbourne-ness. Some highlights…

Crepes for breaky. I had the mushrooms. Jen had lemon and sugar.

Brother Baba Budan for the chairs… and the coffee.

Basement Discs for Miles.

The Narrows for John Warwicker's roses.

Seven Seeds for Helen… and the coffee.

Metropolis for books.

Quist to see La Victoria Arduino #22 of 100 in the world; but it was in for a service :(

Then there was St Ali. I loved St Ali. Everything was right. Syphon Kenyan. Double rist on the Slayer. But BW wasn't happy with it, so he made one on the Synesso; it was better. St Ali was really the only cafe of the day to properly nail the syrupy double rist the way I like it (and the way my fave Sydney cafes do it every time).

To Melbourne

2009-12-03T21:02:00.001-08:00

The drive was pretty epic. About 900kms. Praise God, we made it in one piece. The car didn't even hiccup. I was very thankful to have Jen for company, and air con for happiness.

Some things:
Nelson wished us well at about 6:45am.

Caffeine break at Yass. (I'll always be drawn to Yass, Chris.)

Lunch at the Green Zebra, Albury.

There were two tense traffic-moments on the road, one in the wet in Sydney, one at 100km/h on a freeway in Melbourne. Yuck.

But we made it. Happy days.

One Last Dance with Sydney

2009-12-03T20:26:00.000-08:00

My last days in Sydney were filled with friends and faves. Here are a few that I loved:

A double rist from Mecca

Egg & Bacon Roll from Urban Bites

IPA from Red Oak

Kebab from Rowda Ya-Habibi

A Farewell from Barry Webb,

"God bless you guys. Send some more up."

The Newtown I've grown to love.

Some Sad Farewells

2009-11-30T15:59:00.000-08:00

Over the last week or so there have been lots of goodbyes. Different people say their goodbyes differently. Some cry, some try to slink away quietly. I think I'm a "celebrate, say nice things, then don't look back" kinda guy.

I've felt really loved and supported by so many friends up here as we've undertaken our move home. Suds devoted an afternoon to hanging with me yesterday. A raft of people shared breakfast with me this morning. The Wrights have said "Yes" to every single favour we've asked of them and more. I think Sparky probably holds the most-hugged award, although Pete's a close second. The boys at Shenkin were their usual exuberant selves as they wished us well.

So many good memories.

These Didn't Make It

2009-11-30T03:10:00.000-08:00

It turns out I was pretty optimistic in estimating how much our little car can hold.

These guys didn't make the grade.

I kinda consider it a victory that only so few things have to be left behind. The process of packing the car was like a massive game of tetris; and once I was confident that I could fit all of the important stuff, it even became pretty fun. Laugh out loud fun, in fact. Or maybe I'm just tired and silly.

Please pray that our heavily laden little vehicle makes it all the way to Hobart without a fight. Jen arrives tomorrow night. The journey begins early on Wednesday morning.

The Last Box

2009-11-27T17:37:00.001-08:00

Here's the last, lonely box. And now it, along with all it's friends, have departed our little house forever.

I think I felt a greater sense of relief and finality as the removalists' truck drove away than when I finished my last exam. How odd. I suppose even as I finished exams I knew the grueling task of packing-up our things was ever present.

Not any more. Now we're pretty tired. We're cleaning. And saying a last few goodbyes before Hobart life resumes.

Finished.

2009-11-19T03:27:00.000-08:00

At 5:15pm today I finished all the academic requirements for my BTh.

Woohoo!

(For no particular reason, here's a picture of Robert Doyle, one of the members of faculty. Spot the smiling Masters in the background).

There was a dinner for all exiting students afterwards.

I'm going to bed now.

Doctrine Awaits

2009-11-17T00:57:00.000-08:00

Just one more... the end is nigh. (Doctrine on Thursday)

This afternoon we sat the New Testament exegesis exam. Nick commented, just before we started, that there had been more laughing around the college today. I wondered if it was because people felt more confident. Nick said, no, people are just increasingly tired, and with tiredness comes silliness, in spades.

Nick was right.

The format of today's NT3 exam was novel, and I kinda like the changes. In the third section we were given a pair of sentences (in Greek, with no verse numbering or reference), each taken from different parts of 1 Corinthians (or Luke-Acts, if that's your thing). We then had to talk about the significance of those two sentences for the theology of the whole book.

One to go, people.

Tumbleweed in the Study

2009-11-16T14:24:00.000-08:00

Akos had his Social Ethics exam yesterday. It was his last. He's finished.

*sniff*

It's lonely in my study this morning.

Two More

2009-11-15T22:33:00.000-08:00

'When one catches the power of Paul's vision of the human plight... one can hardly imagine that it was eclipsed by the Jew-Gentile relationship'
How does an understanding of Paul's anthropology affect one's assessment of the so-called new Perspective on Paul?

That was one of the three questions that I knew how to answer, did answer, and did a fairly mediocre job of answering in this afternoon's New Testament Theology exam. Ah well.

The exam was pretty good in terms of the questions that were available. And, thankfully, I was feeling fine--my cold has all but gone, now. Praise the Lord! I was even able to get some study done over the course of the weekend, despite feeling rather headachey and yuck :(

Tomorrow we'll complete the New Testament pair, with Exegesis (i.e. translation and commenting on the meaning of short passages). And then there's just doctrine, on Thursday.

I can almost see the end of it all!

Over the Hump, but...

2009-11-12T01:18:00.000-08:00

... I have a mild fever, and feel pretty rubbish. I blame Nick, even though we've only spent a few minutes together recently ;)

But, on the bright side, I'm now more than half-way through exams. Three subjects down (4 exams), two subjects to go (3 exams).

Ethics was three hours long and involved writing five essays. The compulsory question was about bringing biblical ethics and pastoral sensitivity to a rather messy divorce/remarriage kinda scenario.

Monday/Tuesday is New Testament, and they've changed the exam for this year so that translation (from Greek) is worth very little in the scheme of things; I actually have to have intelligent things to say, rather than just memorising the NIV.

Please pray I get better and learn some intelligent-sounding things :)

Worth a Listen: Ethics

2009-11-10T16:10:00.001-08:00

A bunch of my friends went to the New College Lectures this year. I didn't go. I had other things on that week.

But I've now listened to all three of the lectures and I recommend you do, too. Pithy, thoughtful, very listenable, even moving at times. And not just for total nerds, either.

Check 'em out here. They're entitled, Bioethics And Future Hope, by Prof. John Wyatt.

The Rest of my Hebrew Days - Day One

2009-11-10T15:01:00.001-08:00

I just did the first Hebrew vocab training of the rest of my life. No tests to study for. No set texts to master. Just for the value of it.

I got 4 words wrong (of 111).

I've yet to figure out what a reasonable target is for vocabulary learning (over the long term) in Hebrew. I'll try to increase my vocab to some fixed number of uses in the OT (e.g. learn all words used 50 times or more in the OT). And then I reckon I'll try to have some passages/books that I've mastered down to the hapax (single occurence of a word).

Any advice?

Counting in Subjects Makes me Feel Better

2009-11-10T01:28:00.000-08:00

My mate Pete pointed out to me that if I count-down to the finish, in subjects, rather than actual exams, it makes the end feel closer. So,

Two Subjects Down, Three to Go.

The end feels closer already :)

Today was the second exam for Old Testament, and I think it went remarkably well. The uncertainty was all about which passages we'd have to comment on. Basically, passages I liked came up.

Here's one of them now: It's Ezekiel 36:16-32.

Ethics is Thursday.

I Sat the OT3 Theology Exam, and I Survived

2009-11-09T01:47:00.000-08:00

It's true. I'm alive.

Immediately before every Old Testament exam I am absolutely convinced that--if I were the one setting the questions--I could set an exam that is fair, but which I couldn't even pass.

The questions weren't as horrible as I feared. In fact, I think I did fine. (And thankfully, I'll probably never set exams.)

Here's one of the questions, which might interest you next time you're watching a Sunday night doco:

To what extent has the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls challenged the assumption that the Masoretic Text* should form the basis of modern Old Testament editions?

My answer was basically:

The Dead Sea Scrolls sorta complicated the picture a bit (by giving us a whole lot more to work from in terms of different textual traditions).
But mostly they strongly reinforced our view of how awesome the Masoretic Text is... they showed it was almost perfectly preserved for nigh-on a millenia.

Tomorrow is the Old Testament Exegesis exam. i.e. a whole lot of translating, and some commenting on short passages in Hebrew.

* The Masoretic Text is basically the most important source for our Old Testament Bibles.

Six to Go, and Counting

2009-11-06T00:51:00.000-08:00

My Philosophy exam was today. Here's one of the questions:

'Evil is tragic, awful, painful, and personal, and it should be acknowledged as such. If a theodicy urges us to forget or ignore that fact, it loses its relevance for addressing the relentless pain of the world'.

In what sense can you agree with this statement as the compassionate response to the 'problem of evil'?

A pretty cool question, I reckon.

I think I did fine in today's exam. What's got me concerned is the Monday/Tuesday Old Testament onslaught. Monday is the theology exam, Tuesday the exegesis (i.e. translating and commenting on specific passages). Pray that I fill my head with the right stuff! It's seriously frightening.

Seven

2009-11-04T12:47:00.000-08:00

Exams kick-off tomorrow arvo and conclude on the 19th. I will sit seven exams.

Please pray for us (me, my family, and my classmates). It's always a pretty stressful and draining time. Writing the exams is only part of the experience, of course; there's all the study in between, the fear of falling sick, trying to remain a normal human being in the home rather than acting like a study-cyborg.

Old Testament is (for me) the most frightening of the papers because the examinable material is just so vast. The others will be hard, I'm sure, but don't pose an obvious threat to life itself :)

Emotions, Angst, and Worldview-Change

2009-11-02T14:39:00.000-08:00

I'm studying for my philosophy exam at the moment, and in particular I'm looking at worldviews - how we come to them, how our thinking relates to our experience, that sort of thing. I just read this little bit and wanted to share it with you:

Healthy emotional life which knows and expresses appropriately the full range of emotions is crucial in worldview formation. [...] Unresolved issues in personal or communal life can cause an enormous split between what is in fact done and what is confessed in faith. When such a split becomes a way of life, incongruities become increasingly difficult to live with and pressure builds up for resolution. The painful pressure and turmoil can lead to delusions and schizophrenia; more commonly, release occurs through a modification or adjustment of the vision of life. Through rationalization and other defensive postures we adjust our view of life in an effort to restore peace and unity. When our vision of life is contaminated, both faith and praxis are threatened.

Olthuis, James H. 'On Worldviews' Christian Scholar's Review. 14/2 1985, 153-164.

When we think about informing and shaping our (or someone else's) worldview with the gospel, it's easy to think of it as an information exchange, pure and simple.

It ain't necessarily so.

My Last Class is Coming

2009-10-29T03:29:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the last day of classes for my degree! Wow.

I think because I've seen exams as 'the end', I've kinda let tomorrow sneak up on me unawares. But in many ways all the things that I associate most with college come to an end tomorrow, not in three weeks time with exams. Sitting in class with friends, the broader networks of relationships, learning from lecturers, the lunch time routines, the little eccentricities and college traditions, ping pong, prayer group, and my beloved study group: 'The Brains Trust'.

The daily grind, which has been such a joy, has but one last wind of the crank left in it. This place has shaped me in all sorts of ways: my thinking, my personality, my view of the broader world and Christian history, my love for Tassie and Sydney, the way I work. Praise God for it. I've more to be thankful for than I can possibly list, and more than I'm even able to articulate.

One last day.

Gomez @ The Metro

2009-10-23T14:11:00.001-07:00

Pete and I were in the front row. So, so good. Really tight. Fun. So varied.

They played lots of oldies... more than we expected for a new album tour.

Home Espresso Tips: #5

2009-10-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

Last one.

Chances are your espresso machine came with a tamper. Plastic, flimsy, not actually flat.

Recently I bought a $30 tamper. The big gain has been consistency. It fits (almost) right, I can get good, even pressure on it. The shots are just more consistent.

My closing thought: Laugh-off the bad times. Striving to get better coffee is pretentious and the pursuit of a perfectionist, which should probably render it impossible to enjoy. Take joy in the good times; be humble enough to ask advice and learn; realise you will never attain perfection in a coffee cup in this life. Drink coffee with friends.

Preach it like Steve

2009-10-22T03:52:00.000-07:00

I want someone else to read this book and tell me if there's anything worth gleaning from it for preaching:

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs

But I don't want anyone to know that I asked.

(Thanks TUAW)

Home Espresso Tips: #4

2009-10-22T02:27:00.000-07:00

A quick one this time. Milk.

Happily, cheap domestic espresso machines can usually turn out pretty good milk (so long as they're well cleaned). My advice is basically practice, practice, practice spinning milk. Watch the videos. Read the tutorials. Ask your favourite barista.

You can't nail latte art unless you nail good milk. And, I reckon, milk textured just right feels and tastes better in the mouth.

Milk.

Home Espresso Tips: #3

2009-10-21T14:22:00.000-07:00

So I've got my shots ready. The milk's in the jug. I flick on the steam wand, and... feeble, poor, lame. A mere sigh of hot air. The worst part is I've only got myself to blame.

Cleaning. Yep. Not glam in the least. But my goal is to be familiar enough with cleaning my machine that it's just no big deal - I can do it without thinking.

As for flushing your machine, there's an on-the-cheap method here: http://www.coffeeco.com.au/articles/august2002.html

But when it comes to the steam wand. Hmm. Well, of course you've gotta thoroughly wipe it after every single use. But if yours is like mine, you also need to clear it with a pin nearly as often. If you can figure out how it comes apart, even better (the nozzle unscrews on mine).

So, clean. The fewer things you can blame your machine for, the better :)

Home Espresso Tips: #2

2009-10-20T14:38:00.000-07:00

Use a grinder. That's my tip. Grind fresh.

I'm not saying you need an expensive one. I plodded along with this little manual number for a long time, and I loved it. I think people thought it was kinda nerdy or quaint or ridiculously painstaking. I loved it.

As for what type of grinder... well, you're looking for consistency on two fronts. You want it to be the same from cup-to-cup. And you want the grind itself to be even (i.e. not boulders and dust all at once). For me, I'd rather use elbow grease on a conical burr grinder than get frustrated by inconsistent blades.

What's the big deal? Stick your nose in a bag of pre-ground coffee several days after you opened it, and then stick your nose in some freshly-ground beans. That's why.

Home Espresso Tips: #1

2009-10-17T19:24:00.000-07:00

There seem to be two ways to get good espresso at home: (a) Pay through the nose for a swish machine, or (b) buy takeaways from a good café.

That said, in my experience you can get reasonable results from an entry level machine. I thought I'd share a couple of tips... and not the ones I usually read on coffee websites, either.

Tip #1: Use the right glasses / cups.

Volume is what I'm talking about: how much the glasses hold. If you use a mug, all you'll be able to taste is warm milk. Try smaller glasses (around 200ml, even a little less). At least then you'll be able to taste the coffee.

The Lappy is Back

2009-10-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

All six problems with my laptop are now fixed, thanks to the guys at Mac1, Burwood.

For your info, here's what was wrong:

Bluetooth intermittently unavailable.
The white LED on the front panel not working at all.
Cracks in the top-case (both sides).
The colour LED on the power cord often didn't work.
The screen intermittently flashes/flickers, with lighter/garbled bits.
Would not enter sleep mode automatically.

Here's what's still wrong:

Nothing.

Repair, and Trees

2009-10-08T02:37:00.000-07:00

Last night I submitted the last essay of my degree.

It was quite a relief. Writing the essay was absolutely worth the effort, and mining the riches of O'Donovan's works was one of the most profitable things I've done at college, I reckon. I looked at the issue of homosexuality as a case-study in applying his ethics... wow. Some of the most pastorally deft stuff I've ever seen, I think.

Anyway, today was the first day of beginning to really refocus onto exams... but it was also a day for repair.

My laptop has accumulated about six separate, niggling little issues over the course of the last year or so. I'm not too bothered about it; that's technology. None of them are mission critical, but each of them is annoying. Today I checked her in to be repaired. Here's hoping!

Part of my prep for the ordeal of being separated from my laptop for several days was printing stuff I'd need. I was stunned: I had to print soooo much! People deride the paperless office as a ridiculous myth, but, in all seriousness, the paper-equivalent to the document's I'd access in a few short days runs to something around 70 pages.

As I was printing I could almost smell the exhaust of chainsaws felling old-growth forests by the footy-oval. Speed those repairs!

A Respectable Lust for Power?

2009-10-01T03:32:00.000-07:00

O'Donovan makes for uncomfortable reading, at times. (It's a long quote, I know, but worth it)

'Commanding at a distance has long been the sign of power, and the enthusiasm for it is obviously power-oriented. We need at least to be aware of the temptations that accompany such power. When I have entered my credit card number and double-clicked on the "confirm" box, some packer somewhere has to act on my order, some driver struggle through the traffic on the motorway, some postman find my front door. For me, as for the slave-owners of the early modern colonies, it is all too easy to overlook those on whom the gratifying of my desires depends, and to succumb to the illusion that the tips of my fingers on keyboard and mouse have freed them from the constraints of place, too!' (The Ways of Judgment, 260, emphasis original)

Yes, it's out of context and quite provocatively put, but there's something in it, I reckon.

Acceptance.

2009-09-30T03:23:00.001-07:00

This was me at 7:14am this morning. And that envelope contains my letter of acceptance of the Assistant Minister position that Crossroads recently offered me for 2010.

Hoorah!

Stumbling toward Ethics

2009-09-30T03:07:00.000-07:00

My Ethics essay is taking a whole lot of my time at the moment. The idea--pray that I get there!--is to outline and critically evaluate Oliver O'Donovan's theological ethic, and I've decided to take homosexuality as a case study.

Along the way, I've stumbled across a lecture series (as a book) from 2001, entitled Common Objects of Love. I recommend it. It traverses terrain like: what binds people together in community, how our loves affect our thinking on right and wrong, how Christians should live among and with non-Christians, and more.

It's a seriously good read, and not nearly as dense as his big works.

Post-Apocalyptic Haze

2009-09-22T15:35:00.000-07:00

This is what my backyard looks like a bit after 7am on any given foggy day.

This is what it looked like today at 6:45am today. (1 sec exp., so the reality was less vivid.)

And here it is at 7:05am. (1/10 sec exp)

The air tastes like dust. Horrendous.

Chatting with Nick this morning, we talked about how the smelliness and dirtiness of Sydney saddened us when we first moved up here. I imagine there are some poor souls out there who moved to Sydney just yesterday; this is their first morning of Sydney-life. Yikes.

Looking forward to the Tassie air. Hoping our lungs hold out until then ;)

Crossroads' Offer!

2009-09-16T03:11:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited to say that today Crossroads, via its emissaries, Dan and Gwyd, offered me a position for next year!

The position is Assistant to the Minister. The role includes some specifics, but it is quite general (involving preaching, evangelism, etc.), rather than being narrowly focused on one bit of ministry. It's part time (5 of 7 days a week). We were interviewed for it when we were in Tassie in July.

I'm actually quite relieved to have it 'in hand'!

Please join us in thanking God for providing this opportunity for us, and ask that He continue to prepare us for the ministry ahead.

bills, Welsh, Greek, rubbish.

2009-09-14T03:54:00.000-07:00

Last week Kate and I had the chance to go out to dinner. We decided to go to bills, Surry Hills. It was great. We recommend it.

I've also been on holiday for a week or so (our last while living in Sydney!). Holidays, typically, mean food. This one has been no exception. Jamie's Welsh Rarebit was pretty fun.

Thanks to the Foodies Guide to Sydney we checked out the factory shop at TIM Products, Marrickville. The bloke there lavished Greek sweets upon us.

While in Marrickville we also visited Reverse Garbage. It's basically a suburban tip-shop. I love the idea; but I found almost nothing vaguely interesting. However, if you need a filing cabinet, go there. You should get something reasonable for about $35.

Goodbye Tiger. Hello Snow Leopard.

2009-09-12T20:23:00.000-07:00

Two recent developments in my technological world:

(Warning: some jargon may confuse or bore some readers)

This week I got around to upgrading to Snow Leopard (I bypassed Leopard altogether). The upgrade worked... after a couple of small hitches. First, I discovered my DVD drive wasn't working. Why?? Because Noah had posted the business card of my favourite café in there. Nice. Second, the install DVD was a bit faulty (a fairly common problem, I gather); but eventually I managed to install the bare OS, just some of the extra bits remained inaccessible.
Thanks to this guide I managed to get Time Machine (backup software) to access an NTFS network share.

(End Jargon)

kategoria!

2009-09-08T04:47:00.001-07:00

Occasionally, people dump old books in some public spot at college, usually accompanied by a sign that says, 'Free Books', or something similar.

Today I scored the entire back-catalogue of the discontinued kategoria journal.

Score.

Manly with Auntie Amanda

2009-09-04T03:16:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Auntie Amanda was in town. We visited some old favourites, and explored some new ones. Unfortunately Noah was pretty crook on Saturday night (he was ok by the morning).

I reckon I'm going to miss the vast diversity of stuff on offer here in Sydney. Ah well, enjoy it while it lasts, I guess :)

Some of the old favourites included:

Glebe Markets
Newtown (College and King St.)
Shenkin
Church

The biggest new thing was taking the ferry to Manly.

Here's the Shakshuka from Shenkin.

Affogato at Campos.

A beautiful day for the ferry ride to Manly.

We found a good coffee joint at Manly called Barefoot.

And we found the beach, too.

In all, it was great having Amanda with us. We look forward to seeing much more of you really soon :)

Jackman on Demands

2009-09-04T02:56:00.000-07:00

David Jackman finished-up his series of lecture with What Preaching Demands. He said there are five demands that lie at the heart of fruitful biblical ministry, non-negotiables that a preacher must always be marked by:

Constantly feeding on the word of God
Dependence upon the Holy Spirit
Commitment to Hard Work and Progress
Love for your Hearers
Realism about the Battle

At one point he made this observation (paraphrased):

If you deprive your preaching program of narrative (i.e. the story parts of the Bible), you’ll deprive your congregation of the great bulk of teaching on the doctrine of God from Scripture.

Gold, I reckon.

Jackman on the Heart

2009-09-03T03:03:00.000-07:00

All I have to do to have a hard heart, is nothing.

That was David Jackman's comment on Psalm 95 in his lecture, this morning, on Where Preaching Connects.

Reflecting on Psalm 95, he reminded us that: (a) we're seeking a response from our preaching, not just a hearing; and (b) as preachers we've gotta pray for people's hearts.

Jackman on Preaching

2009-09-02T02:59:00.000-07:00

Happily, this week David Jackman is loitering around college, speaking each day in chapel on preaching.

Yesterday he spoke on Why Preaching Matters.

(Paraphrased) If you’re not on about proclamation, then don’t put yourself forward as a pastor. Your congregation needs the word proclaimed.

This morning was all about How Preaching Works. He warned against the pitfall (in preaching) of trotting out any one of the various frameworks of thinking that you bring to a given text. He listed heaps; here are the ones I got...

Systematic theology framework - a topic from systematics swamps the meaning of this text.
Pastoral framework - an immediate pastoral concern governs the shape the sermon.
Legalistic framework - some legalistic concern, specific to our sub-culture, takes over as the issue.
Programmatic framework - whatever your agenda for the time: preaching, evangelism, mission, etc.
A framework governed by our favourite illustrations.

In other news... here's my current desktop wallpaper. I took it from the Manly ferry on Monday.

Time well-spent

2009-08-26T03:01:00.001-07:00

One of the constant balancing-acts at college is deciding how much time to pour into reading, and how much to pour into languages. It seems impossible to keep up with both. But, on the bright side, any time poured into either proves to be time well spent.

On two books specifically:

I can't wait to get into Peterson's Acts commentary.
I just finished Blocher's Evil and the Cross, which really called into question the way I think of the origin of evil with respect to God's sovereign purposes.

Last night was the Moore Revue. Des did stand-up. Chris fought a drum-battle. Christian read an extremely well-written short story of his own. But if you don't check out this Derek Churchplanter video, by my mate Stephen, you're living a poorer life than you could be.

Ahh Zoolander!

Pleasures and Frustrations

2009-08-26T02:44:00.000-07:00

Last Friday arvo saw Des and I head out to Flemington for what was my last fruit & veg bulk buying expedition. I'm still stuck on quinces, so I got a few more to stew. It was also über fun hanging with Des for some purpose other than study. It had been too long!

For those particularly interested, I've caught a snag with my espresso making pleasure. Channeling. I just can't seem to get around it. I'm thinking of getting a better tamper to try to eliminate inconsistency there... but here's my hypothesis for the moment:

Cheaper domestic espresso machines (or at least mine) deliver the water at higher pressure than they ought.

It's just a theory, I can't prove it, either.

Read, Write, Nerd.

2009-08-19T03:51:00.000-07:00

The other day, a student making an announcement over lunch had the audacity to preface his announcement with this qualification:

'This announcement isn't just for the nerds, ok?'

Please. It's a Bible College.

Two high points from this last week or so...

Read. Holiness, by John Webster.
Write. Today I handed in an exegetical paper, which is like writing a bit of commentary on a passage of the Bible (i.e. what's this bit of the Bible on about, in its context). The paper was on Psalm 96. For some reason I didn't really like what I came up with much at all. I'm glad it's finished.

The next major assessment isn't due for ages, but it's a killer: Ethics essay. I'm looking at Oliver O'Donovan.

Something Old, Something New

2009-08-15T02:52:00.000-07:00

Something Old... Ages ago I posted about making Jamie's Rhubarb Crumble, and stuffing some mandarin in there for good measure. Last week I had the pleasure of revisiting that land of happiness. It still rocks. Go and buy/borrow Jamie at Home and find out for yourself.

Something New... This one's Donna Hay's work. There's broccoli in there. Bacon. Mint. It could perhaps have been improved by an accompaniment of cold weather.

Continuing the rhyme-theme a little longer: Something Borrowed... The other night I watched Yojimbo. It's seriously good. Vintage Kurosawa. Check it out.

New Crazes, Two of Them

2009-08-09T04:28:00.001-07:00

Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that I did manage to get my New Testament essay in. Some essays take it out of you; others really get you thinking about life; others stretch your thinking. This one did all three. I felt smashed by it, in the end. And so relieved to submit it.

But this post is about two new crazes in my life.

This week (and it'll happen again in a fortnight) I shopped for our fruit and veg co-op. Man, I love it. I went with Kristan, which was a blast (next time is with Des).

I bought quinces. (Just a few for myself, not for the whole co-op; I wasn't sure they'd be appreciated!). Thankfully, Jen and Funnel were in town to show me the ropes with quince-stewing.

So the second craze is Grand Designs. Jen and Funnel sat us down and showed us an episode (Series 5, the Urban Space Pod). I love that show. It's so good. I can't believe it's existed so long without me getting into it. I want to watch it all... while eating stewed quinces and yoghurt.

Jen & Funnel in Town

2009-08-09T04:05:00.001-07:00

This weekend Jen (my eldest sister) and Funnel (her fiancé) were in town.

We basically packed our weekend with awesomeness. Here are some highlights...

...in Newtown:

College - just a quick tour and some lazing on the grass.
Berkelouw books
Campos - where else!?
Thai La Ong - $6 Thai lunch.
Goulds Books - the most nuts 2nd hand books store in all the land.
Hung out with Mick, Fi, their boys, and Soph in the park.

...out and about elsewhere:

Kinokuniya, City - the best book shop in all the land. Hands down.
Sweet Belem, Petersham - Portuguese Custard tarts.
Alimento Deli, Summer Hill - for our usual order of blueberry bagels.
New Shanghai, Ashfield - Dumplings. Noah loves dumplings. Funnel loves red bean.

Needless to say, we're wrecked. But we loved the time together. Thanks Jen and Funnel :)

There was one added challenge: car capacity. We have just five seats; we had six people. So I was on bike-duty! Ah well, all the better for building an appetite for bagels, tarts, dumplings, and the rest ;)

Emotions

2009-07-29T02:45:00.000-07:00

Bad pastors use ‘good teaching’ as a weapon, to shut people up.

So said one of my Ethics lecturers today, during what was possibly the best lecture of my degree, so far. In short, he was urging us to engage at the emotional level with our people when they're hurting, rather than fobbing them off with 'the right answer'.

The Cross and Life

2009-07-28T03:45:00.000-07:00

According to 1 Corinthians, what difference should the 'theology of the cross' make to the Christian life?

That's my New Testament essay question. It's due next week. Please pray I can get the essay done in time, and that through it I'd learn to better reflect the theology of the cross in my own life.

Getting Back into Gear

2009-07-24T04:29:00.001-07:00

Our trip to Tassie was great. Great time with family and friends, some good time spent talking shop with Crossroads, plenty of blobbing about.

We had a bit of time back home in Sydney before college recommenced. The Balmain Markets were pretty neat. Also, Kate's folks passed through town for a few days, which was great, since we missed them in Tassie.

Term 3, now one week in, is proving pretty cool. New things this term include studying Luke-Acts, beginning Philosophy 3 (with Andrew Cameron), and Mission Awareness Week (lots of missios and mission agencies at college).

Nick and I are spending quite a lot of our mornings together at the moment. Deus Cafe has been a fave haunt.

Last Sunday evening, however, Nick and I ducked across to the Local Taphouse. The Mountain Goat Rapunzel Belgian Ale was pretty neat. The Ross' Alt Spice was totally off the chain.

Warmth

2009-07-07T15:44:00.000-07:00

Some reasons to like Sydney (and look forward to our return, tonight):

Hobart's top temp. yesterday: 10.4°C.
Sydney's min. temp. overnight: 8.0°C

And the clincher:

Hobart's temp. at 6am today: 0.7°C.

(The apparent temp.: -5.9°C)

It was that kind of Conference

2009-06-26T01:04:00.000-07:00

Occasionally, you enjoy a conference that is saturated with the gospel, just encourages you, fires you up, but paints a very real picture, not just the glossy stuff. What a joy those conferences are. The Church Planting Conference of the last couple of days was that kind of conference.

I have just three things to say:

Well done, Nick, for awesome blog-coverage of the whole thing. Seriously, read Nick's posts :)
If you want fuller notes, drop me an email... I took notes which run to some 27 pages!
But don't be content with my version. I'm also buying the DVD of the whole thing. Let me know if you'd like to borrow it sometime.

Listening for Leaks

2009-06-25T14:20:00.000-07:00

Two little announcements have been nestled in among the conference material so far. They won't affect many of you, but for those few who are interested and/or know the characters involved...

Al Stewart has been named the next director of Evangelism Ministries - with a twist! (See ACL story here) It sounds like the plan is to expand EM's scope to include a role in Church Planting. Al seems a great bloke for the job.
As Nick mentioned, Al Stewart and Andrew Heard jointly announced the In the Chute conference for those on the cusp of planting churches. It's scheduled for the end of November.

Two great initiatives, I reckon.

Church Planting Conference, Nick's Thoughts

2009-06-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

Check out Nick's posts on the Church Planting Conference that we're both in on today and tomorrow. There's been great stuff so far!

House Party (i.e. Weekend Away)

2009-06-24T05:01:00.001-07:00

Last weekend was our third-year 'house party' (incidentally, could that be the dumbest-sounding term possible for what is essentially a weekend holiday?!?). So my class traveled down to Wollongong for some time together, Bible teaching, meals together, and laughs.

We took the scenic route this time around, which was well worth it. Noah and Coco enjoyed the sights.

Being our last year-house-party, it made me realise what a blessing my peers are to us, and just how soon we'll be farewelling them for Tasmanian shores. Mixed emotions!

Bean Tampered, Summer Hill

2009-06-15T23:22:00.000-07:00

Bean Tampered, a new café in Summer Hill, opened its doors on Saturday. We made it in there for the first time this arvo.

They roast on site, which is a promising sign. The roaster, Lino (sp.?), had a roast on the go while we were there.

As for the coffees we were served... well. It's not great news. I think the extraction left a bit to be desired. Either that, or the beans were just too fresh. Kate's milk left a lot to be desired (just over-heated). She couldn't finish it. Cute red saucers, though.

But I'll be back. I figure they'll iron out the bumps soon. And I like the idea of a local cafe that roasts on site.

Luddites Eat Too!

2009-06-15T14:01:00.001-07:00

Last weekend my mates, Pete and Pamela, hosted a Luddite Food Festival. Genius idea.

We all had to show up with a dish or a cake or whatever that we'd made 'from scratch' and without the aid of electrical gadgetry.

I made Silk Handkerchiefs with Pesto Sauce from Jamie's Italy--think homemade pasta and homemade basil pesto. Extra points for hand-rolling the pasta (no pasta machine here!). But I lost points for forgetting the rule and banging the basil in the food processor at one point. Oops :)

I felt like Popeye after rolling the pasta. Throbbing forearms. Ouch.

Three cheers for Pete and Pamela's Luddite Food Festival!

Ends. And Relief.

2009-06-15T04:04:00.000-07:00

These last few weeks have really taken their toll on me, I think. There have been a bunch of wonderful things happening, but it's all left me feeling pretty drained. But two things ended today, which spells relief, in some measure.

The last in a long line of stressful things happened earlier today: my final Hebrew test. Yup. The last one. Last. Done. Finished. No more.

The second thing (also today) was this: the end of semester one. Just one more semester to go for my degree!

In the Hebrew test, here's what I was confronted with:

The test was actually pretty cool. I don't mean I did well (I did ok). I mean I liked the questions. Here's the format:

You're faced with that bulk of text. You give two translations: one that's close to the Hebrew, if clunky; one that's smoother. Then you have to comment on what's gained and lost in smoothing it out.

Ahhh. Holidays. Please pray we get some great rest and time to reconnect.

Bows and Arrows and MTS

2009-06-15T03:42:00.001-07:00

I've made a few comments on the recent MTS Cricket Team Conference over at the MTS Tasmania blog. Why 'Cricket Team'? It's basically a vision for ministry trainers across the country to gather into groups of a dozen or so (hence the cricket team), to locally embody and encourage the whole MTS thing. I reckon it's a brilliant idea.

Mikey and I were flying the flag for Tassie at the conference, which was held here in Sydney (well, Port Hacking).

We also did archery! A kinda team-building, bit of fun, I guess. It was really difficult, but rad. Mikey still doesn't like Legolas.

The conference got me really pumped for getting back into things in Hobart, especially evangelism. It also reinforced to me just how encouraging it is to learn from and hear from like-minded guys from other contexts. Praise God for the MTS guys, I reckon.

Old Testament 3. Another Essay in the Box.

2009-06-10T02:39:00.000-07:00

These blokes were my roomies on Winter Camp, Aushen and Frank.

And some more of the serenity at Stanwell Tops.

But today was the day of my Old Testament essay, well, finishing it anyway. Please thank God that I found time to do it in the last hectic week or so. Secondly, it really was great to spend some good time in the Psalms. It was quite a nurturing kinda exercise.

From Winter Camp

2009-06-07T05:37:00.000-07:00

I'm posting this from my room at the Presbyterian Youth 2009 Winter Camp. It finishes up tomorrow, but has been great so far. (I'm on the Junior Camp, which is for Years 7-10)

My role on camp is to be a Pastoral Carer. It's a very cool system: they recruit a bunch of people like me to come and hang out with the other leaders on camp to chat with them about life and ministry. I'm allocated 5 blokes, and they're my focus; I'm their go-to man for all sorts of things.

Four other cool things about this camp...

Well-Pitched Material: Sermons, Bible Studies, even just the little things... cute little video bits here and there, thoughtful ways to involve the young'ns in stuff.
The Venue: it's at The Tops Conference Centre, which, at just about every point, is just a bit nicer than any other campsite I've been to for this sort of thing.
The Organisational Kung Fu: They have dedicated tech teams, dedicated musos, dedicated activity-organiser-ninjas. The result is a very smooth-running machine indeed.
Integration: Today's programme included a massive activity/game thing, which led seamlessly into the sermon (in terms of theme and relevance to life) in such a way that I reckon it reinforced the Bible's message really strongly.

I'm going to sleep now...

Coffee Love

2009-06-04T04:02:00.000-07:00

The barista at Shenkin invited Nick and me to a cupping (coffee tasting) evening, which happened last night. Coffee love.

We had a ball. Nick's written it up here, so please check his post out. I second his comments on the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. It was phenomenal.

And there was beer-tasting, too.

Nathan's comment: "Blue Cheese!" He was dead right. This beer tasted just like a blue cheese. Notice, too, the hand-written portions of the label. Uber-small brewery, I guess.

The whole event was arranged to coincide with the arrival of Ben's new little joy: his new Synesso espresso machine. For one reason or another it wasn't quite ready to roll last night, so Nick and I went back first thing this morning to taste the first shots from it. Double rists. Delish. Great work, Ben.

Repenting of Leeching

2009-05-26T04:05:00.000-07:00

Chapter 7 of Christopher Ash's book Marriage: Sex in the Service of God (IVP, 2003) really struck me, recently. "What is the centre of your marriage?", that's the question on view. You? Your kids? The two of you, together? Here's a snippet.

Couple-centred marriage dissolves into self-centred marriage, and self-centred marriage is like a leech. (p. 125)

In the Bible's perspective the way forward is neither via individual autonomy nor in introspective companionship, but in the joyful shared service of God. (p. 126)

It's a great read.

Praying, Past and Next

2009-05-17T04:01:00.000-07:00

There's plenty of stuff to be thankful for from the last few weeks, and plenty more to pray for on the horizon. Here are a couple of things Past and Next.

Past...

...Comforts. College occasionally runs Marriage Enrichment courses for students. We enjoyed one a week ago. Very comforting, encouraging, constructive.
...Submissions. I submitted a paper last week on Ezekiel 37. It's about the unity of God's people and His desire to be present among them. Tedious in the writing; heartening on reflection.
...Sorrows. Last week a thanksgiving service was held in memory of Sir Marcus Loane. The service was held in the cathedral. It was immensely encouraging both to hear of his long life of faithfulness and to see the strength of the Sydney Anglican scene gathered around one its dearly loved forefathers.

Next...

...Week: My regular languages study (Greek and Hebrew) has come off the boil a bit. I need to dial the heat back up a bit. (Just the routine practice & exposure).
...Essay: How is the law of God viewed in the Psalms, and what role does it play in the theology of the Psalter? (Old Testament 3) Nick is doing the same one.
...Conference: I'm helping out as Pastoral Leader on a Presbyterian Youth conference (Winter Camp) over the June long weekend.

Several Ways to make Margate even Happier

2009-05-10T03:33:00.001-07:00

So Margate's a happy place. But what could make it happier? I have five ideas.

#1. Sour Cherry Loaf. Sorta like a fancy fruit loaf. (We bought this one from the new deli in Summer Hill).

#2 Sweet Belem Portuguese Custard Tarts. Flaky pastry, delicious custard, sprinkled cinnamon. Don't let the pigeons get 'em.

#3 Shenkin. Nick and I have been drinking a whole lotta great coffee at this little haven of happiness.

#4 Beer from Martin Luther's House. Suds brought it back from Europe. It's from a house where Martin Luther lived in Wittenberg.

#5 Rauchbier (Smokebeer). Best enjoyed with a German friend, incidentally. Brewed according to Reinheitsgebot, but they manage to squeeze the smoke in there somehow :)

You are now leaving Sermon City.

2009-05-10T03:16:00.000-07:00

Two sermons in Galatians down. And that's the end of my sermon-load for a little while now. Both sermons came together pretty well. Thanks for praying.

In preaching those sermons I realised for the first time just how intimidating it is to preach to a member of College faculty on a text in their particular area of study. Check out Philip Kern's research focus! He goes to my church.

On a lighter note, remember this guy?

I snapped this poster in one of my regular haunts.

A Sleepy Little Commuter Town

2009-05-10T03:12:00.000-07:00

So the Mercury reckons there is no happier place in Tassie than my hometown, Margate. You can't argue with high quality research, people.

Kaboom

2009-05-06T20:49:00.000-07:00

The other day I bought some Bob Dylan.

I've a hunch about buying the greats. Unless you're going to buy Bob's entire back-catalogue, you have to decide whether to buy a couple of albums, or a compilation. Some say that the compilations never have the best tracks. I think that's rubbish in the case of Dylan, at least. His compilations don't lack his best songs, they just don't include all of them. A tall order for a single compilation, I'd suggest. I think rather, the choice between compilation and album is the difference between (primarily) knowing about his place in music, and knowing the man.

If you buy a compilation, of course you'll be better positioned to 'get' the overall contribution of the artist to their time and have a sense of how they matured and changed over the years (if you pay attention to release dates and history, that is). A worthy enterprise.

But if you buy a couple of albums, I think you get to know the person, more personally. You sit with them for a time. You'll never get all Bob's best songs this way; he has too many. And you won't get the sense of the whole. But there's something nice about sitting with the man for the year 1965, or whenever.

I bought albums.

On Con's recommendation, I also bought James Muller's Kaboom.

Muddled through Hebrew

2009-04-29T20:45:00.001-07:00

A quick update on this week...

Thankfully, my Hebrew mini-exam went pretty well. The questions were basically what I expected, and I think my answers were ok, too. That's two Hebrew mini-exams down; two to go.
Still working on my sermon for Sunday. Plenty of work ahead :)

Drug Dealers Hassling your Kids?

2009-04-27T15:40:00.001-07:00

These posters, which suddenly popped up all over the Inner West last week, made me laugh out loud.

Term 1 Resumes...

2009-04-27T03:37:00.001-07:00

Back at College for the last week of Term 1 (to be immediately followed by the first week of Term 2. Go figure).

This week is set to be rather busy on account of two deadlines:

A Hebrew test on Thursday. I basically need to know all the weak-verb paradigms. For those who are in the know, it's geminates and hollows that are doing my head in at the moment.
A sermon to write for church this Sunday. It's on the opening paragraph of Galatians. I should go work on that right now...

Plenty there for prayer folks :)

In other news, a couple of church planters spoke at college this afternoon. I've posted a small reflection on the session over at the MTS Tasmania blog.

The Vibe at Bondi

2009-04-24T04:12:00.001-07:00

I have to admit I was a bit surprised by the vibe of Bondi. I know it's not exactly peak season, but I had probably expected the glam-but-soulless feel of Surfers. It was not to be, I am glad to say.

The place was remarkably... real, settled. I guess there aren't massive hotels. And you don't get the sense that every shop just appeared yesterday and might be gone tomorrow. That permanence begets a certain depth to the cultural experience of it all, I think.

Bondi Gastronomy

2009-04-24T02:59:00.000-07:00

This last week we enjoyed some good times house-sitting in Bondi. The Foodies' Guide to Sydney was thick with recommendations as to how we should spend our time.

First stop was my birthday cake, thanks to Katie, a chocolate and carrot torte with muscovado cream. The Wrights were on hand (they stayed several days with us) to ensure none went to waste :)

Jai and I discovered a chocolate shop on Bondi Road, which was open late into the evening - very convenient. It reminded me heaps of the Renown in North Hobart.

Now we get serious. The salt and pepper squid at Doyles (the wharf take-away, only, not the restaurant, alas!) was exceptional. Definitely among the best seafood takeaway we've had.

The best coffee -and we tasted a few- was from gertrude & alice. Campos beans. Brilliant. Lily spilled my (almost full) piccolo, and they kindly made me another, which was bang-on the mark again.

Bondi is a bit of a Jewish enclave, and that mean bagels. Glick's All Seeds bagel was a bit a stand-out. It boasts cumin seeds (!), unless my taste buds (and eyes) deceive me.

I also followed Nick's example:

Back home now: the snow peas are still alive and growing. A few flowers herald the happiness to come.

Flying Guillotine

2009-04-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

Master of the Flying Guillotine (1974) was hot. Not blow-your-mind material. But great old-school kung fu. It had all the elements:

Evil white-bearded hermit.
Some ridiculous characters (an Indian Rubber man, several one-armed boxers...).
A very thin plot-device to introduce the bulk of the actual fighting.
Ugly scenery typical of the kung fu of that era.

Interestingly, the hero (the real one-armed boxer) was content to use some seriously not-honourable schemes to get his man. For western cinema that's fine. For kung fu of that era... well, it stood out to me as pretty odd.

I notice that Block Cinema is getting underway (spectacularly good idea, guys). The question is: Can it truly hope to go the distance if it doesn't embrace kung fu? (I jest). I suggest either 36th Chamber or some early Bruce Lee ;)

Out from under the Essay-Shaped Cloud

2009-04-16T04:13:00.000-07:00

I just submitted an essay on infant baptism. I'm loving the fact that college has the techno-funk in place for me to submit (some) stuff online these days.

Here's what I'd consider the cream of my bibliography, in case you're interested.

Beasley-Murray, G. R., Baptism in the New Testament - This is a smokin', but very thorough, critique of the Reformed arguments. Some of his critiques are stronger than others.
Bavinck, Herman, Reformed Dogmatics - Ahhh, the Dutch. This guy presents a really clear presentation of the range of Reformed views. Clearer than Calvin or Reymond.
Barth, Karl, Church Dogmatics IV.4. - (My essay question quoted Barth). Gosh he's long-winded, but he's very thorough in both detail and big-picture.
Robinson, Donald, Selected Works - Very crisp exegesis regarding baptism's symbolic significance. I don't go for some of his conclusions, though.

And if you're thinking of reading Barth, not having read him before, then follow this procedure. Stop. Read Geoffrey Bromiley's Introduction to the Theology of Karl Barth. Then read Barth.

Things to thank God for: preparing the essay was a really good time of reflecting on a whole range of stuff (parenting, the gospel, denominations, the faithfulness of God). A very positive experience. And holidays, thank Him for them, too ;)

Shanghai Showdown

2009-04-08T13:47:00.001-07:00

For some time now, folks have touted the Chinese dumplings of Shanghai Night (in Ashfield) as the best in all the land. Well, I can't be sure, but it seems the place next door to them, New Shanghai, is their biggest rival in the best-dumpling stakes.

We went there last week while Kaylene was in town.

Noah ate dumplings like a professional.

Pork and chive dumplings. Shanghai mini pork dumplings. MMmmmm.

But do you really?

2009-04-08T03:04:00.000-07:00

When I was in Tassie, Fi and I watched an episode of The Mighty Boosh. It was the episode where the presumed-dead former Zoo keeper kept on with banter like,

"You know. But do you really know?"
"You're ready. But are you really ready?"

Well, I've appropriated that banter for myself. In the following form:

"You lost the camera. But did you really lose the camera?"

Evidently not.

On the bright side, the camera that we bought to replace our presumed-lost old camera is really cool. It's a Canon IXUS 95IS. Let me tell you just one thing about it: it's fast (for a compact). Shot-to-shot is about 1.5 secs (no flash). And when the kids are doing cute stuff, that's when it counts.

Mission to Merrylands

2009-04-07T04:13:00.001-07:00

Last week was Mission week for college. The whole student body is divided into mission teams. Each team is headed up by a chaplain (one of the faculty). And each team heads to a different church(es) to work with them for a week (Sunday to Sunday).

We went here, to St Anne's, Merrylands.

We were involved in heaps of stuff: a Men's dinner, a Seniors' Bible study, Scripture Seminars at a local school, preaching on the Sundays, ESL classes, scout groups, train station fliering (the fliers had chocolates attached), door knocking, the list goes on.

Two cool things about the week:

A couple from the church took the whole week off work to be embedded with the mission team. Awesome idea. So encouraging. It was so nice to have that kind of connection with actual people from the church.
St Anne's runs a Sudanese church service each week, which is almost entirely in Dinka (language). And just like MacDonalds in France, it's the little things that really caught my attention. (a) The service leader (and a deaconess?) sit on the stage in lounge chairs throughout the service. The preacher does the same thing, but on the opposite side of the stage. (b) They had several people talk (for 3-5mins each) about stuff that's going on in their life, rather than the service-leader give announcements about those things. (c) They sing loud, but they hardly move. (d) People were constantly whispering in the service-leader's ear or handing him notes, etc. I think at least some of those were requests for prayer.

It was a good week. But it's nice to have finished now, and to have caught my breath again.

Merrylands is pretty culturally and ethnically diverse. I bought some lebanese sweets at this joint... Yummy, but overpriced and not as good as my local. The coffee was undrinkable.

Dropping in for the Weekend

2009-04-06T04:49:00.000-07:00

As some of you will know, I dropped in on Dad and Buzz for their birthdays the other week. The whole thing was a surprise for Dad. All I needed was one of these to make it happen:

Kate and the kids stayed home, though.

It was great to be back in Tassie, even if it was just for a couple of days. As you'd expect, I spent the whole time with family. (Sorry I didn't get to see more of you!)

We had a lovely lunch to celebrate the birthdays. I also spent a fair bit of time wandering around the veggie garden at Mum and Dad's. Much of their garden is thundering along. I've never seen as many apples on a single tree as this!

Luke was happy because I basically spent my baggage allowance ferrying Sydney's finest to him :) I consider it my duty and honour.

Fortuitously, my visit coincided with the Ten Days on the Island festival. With Jen and Funnel I caught a performance of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis. Excellent. Music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. I recommend it. (I think it'll be in Sydney later this month).

Then back to Sydney, and straight into the Moore College Mission week!

The Good, the Bad, and the Greedy

2009-03-19T03:48:00.001-07:00

Let's start with the Bad.

A little while ago, Luke asked for a peak into the secret life of my bookshelf. He particularly asked to know my 'worst purchase'. Well, there are two contenders; I'll tell you about this one:

It's a set text for doctrine this year (and I nearly always like my set texts). I don't like this one. It's not well written. The author doesn't argue his case very well at all. Proof texts galore. Bllerghh!

The Greedy
I recently read Brian Rosner's book, Greed as Idolatry (not to be confused with Beyond Greed) for Ethics. He's commenting on this verse from Colossians:

"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry"

Keep in mind that Paul (the guy who wrote Colossians) was a Jew. So to call anything idolatry is to thoroughly hate on it. (Think the 10 Commandments). So why greed? Rosner reaches this conclusion:

'[A]t the risk of blunting the affective impact of the metaphor, "greed is idolatry" may be paraphrased as teaching that to have a strong desire to acquire and keep for yourself more and more money and material things is an attack on God's exclusive rights to human life and devotion, trust and confidence, and service and obedience.' Greed as Idolatry, Rosner, 173.

The Good
Quickflix have been sending me movies. Just a slow trickle, that's all I need. Blade Runner, The Crow, I'm Not There, and Amazing Grace have made an appearance in my letter box thus far. I'm hoping that Master of the Flying Guillotine might be next :) Oh come on. You knew kung-fu was coming.

Keep an eye on my sidebar for movie updates.

Comfort

2009-03-19T03:24:00.001-07:00

This post is pretty unashamedly about pedestrian stuff. If you want new and whizz-bang... click wildly until you hit a link to somewhere else!

Saturday's are still known in our place as Blueberry Bagel Day. It's a tradition that carves-out a little haven in our week. There's a whole ritual surrounding it, of which many of you, I'm sure, are aware. The end result is coffee with bagels (toasted just so). But the ritual begins when this place opens.

Alimento in Summer Hill is great, except for the fact that they open several hours after our kids wake. Noah and I buy the bagels. He pays the lady at the counter. If he's lucky he gets to hold the bag in the car on the way home. I say 'lucky' because it basically means he picks the blueberries out and gobbles them up.

Charles Darwin would love my garden. I think my Basil has grown so aggressively that it killed my thyme. It overshadowed it, cut off its light, and watched it shrivel. Life in the vegetable kingdom is a herb-eat-herb existence.

My rockmelons.

Who is watching the...

2009-03-16T17:27:00.000-07:00

So my cold's gone. Thanks for praying :)

I guess I've got a soft spot for graphic novels. A comic-book-nut friend recently dropped Watchmen into my hands with this advice:

It deserves to be savoured. It took 13 months for the original readers to finish.

Ok, ok, so this is actually Noah's nightlight.

Btw, the mornings feel colder, and they've grown darker.

Rockcamps, Snowmelons, Eveningcolds

2009-03-09T03:00:00.001-07:00

The last week or so has seen things get a little busier, I guess. Deadlines at college are edging ever nearer. My first assignment is due in a couple of days (a paper on 1 Cor. 5:1-5). But there are plenty of little things trickling along. Here are a few of those...

My rockmelons are beginning to go beserk. More and more flowers are cropping up. Now there are several little bubba fruit on there (at least I think there are, they're so small!). All three plants are taking-off very satisfyingly.

This little guy sprang up just a few days after my snow pea seeds went in the ground. I'm pretty sure he's a bean, so some of the old beans must have dropped on the ground, and, voila!, I guess we'll have some beans as well as a dozen or so snow peas against the back fence.

Thank God for plants that grow, and ones that grow food, especially, I reckon. Jolly satisfying.

A handful of you Tassie readers might recognise this spot. Think back to the Club 5 Conference, 2000 and 2001 (right years??). It's Merroo, a convention centre just near Kurrajong.

We stayed at Merroo this weekend just gone for our church camp. We really enjoyed hanging out with people from church for those couple of days.

I think the weekend served to refine / hone a conviction of mine: that a church camp is a precious time in the calendar of a church, so it's crucial to use it to set the gospel before people in such a way that they not only are deepened in their understanding and faith, but also that they see more clearly the gospel's radical relevance to the humdrum, the whole of their lives, and the whole world.

Our evenings are also feeling the effects of a year that's begun:

Kate and I have enjoyed being a bit more organised about our evenings recently, which I think is helping us both get stuff done and enjoy some more time hanging out.
Kate's year is absolutely underway: Moore Women, writing Bible studies (she's leading one this year), looking after me and the kids ;), it's all gotta squeeze in somewhere! Seriously, pray that she can both keep putting so much into it all as well as getting so much out of it!

I have managed to pick up a cold in the last week or so. Please pray that I don't end up sharing this plague around. Nobody wants a cold ;)

Thanks for Pimping my Study

2009-03-01T01:00:00.001-08:00

So we may have lost our camera. Probably left it at Bicentennial Park. Maybe it's around here somewhere... In the mean time, we'll get by with my phone's spectacular photo-capturing powers!

So here's my fully pimped study!

A few things to note:

Wall-hangings - A massive picture of Cradle Mountain that sits to my left, always watching (!), courtesy of Akos. A whiteboard, for things that look better scribbled. Pictures of my sisters (and the rest of my fam!).
Good lighting. Good cans. Good ergonomic whizz-bangery.
Reference books at the ready. And pile of cute bookmarks that I want to use (it's kindof a thing for me!)
Shelves that involved some hammer-drilling to get 'em up there.

Ok so there are two things still to do:

Pot plant - I'm waiting for my little seeds to germinate before I move it in.
Memory verses for the wall.

Thanks heaps to Luke, Al, Fi, Fi, and Roj for words of wise counsel :)

Cinderella, playing in the ashes

2009-02-27T02:01:00.001-08:00

I think I'm in the groove of my college routine now. Long days, yes, but generally the early start is enjoyed reading a book in a nice spot (a café, Nick's place, Suds' place, a park). That's after a bike ride, of course.

The real reason I wanted to make this post was to tell you something that one of my dear lecturers said today. I'm not even sure I understand it.

It's kindof a Cinderella discipline. You're playing in the ashes, by the fire place. But there's a pumpkin outside and a fairy god-mother on the way.

I think the discipline he was talking about is the study of the structure and argument of 1 Corinthians. (i.e. No one's come up with much to-date, but the whole discussion might come and steal the show, reshaping the way we read the letter...) I dunno. But I loved the little picture he painted.

I also love Baklava from just down the road.

Over at the MTS Tasmania Blog: A New Australian Church Planting Network

2009-02-19T13:07:00.000-08:00

Last night I enjoyed an evening listening to Al Stewart's dream for an Australian network of church planting networks. Super cool. Nick and Mikey were there, along with a bunch of people from across the country. This is a movement worth watching and being involved in, I reckon.

I've said a few words about it on the MTS Tasmania blog - a cool blog, which I've been invited to write for occasionally.

This is unrelated. It's from my reading in a cafe near college. The eagle-eyed might heart-warmingly notice a way-way-old-school flier that I'm using as a bookmark.

Shiny Happy Study Ideas?

2009-02-13T12:24:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I'm calling in a favour from you all here.

I'm just about to start college for the year and am trying to put the finishing touches on my study to make it a place that I really want to go to and spend time in. So here's the question:

What should I do to my study to make it an awesome, happy place to be?

Comments?!

Ribs!

2009-02-12T01:39:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to share something little with you: At long last, today, I made Jamie's pork ribs on the barbie (from Jamie at Home). Definitely my culinary highlight for quite some time. (Although Kate's recent foray into the world of making banana bread is something pretty special, too).

Noah was out at the shops with Katie, so Lily had to give me a hand at the BBQ. A special moment in father-daughter life :)

I bought enough pork and made enough marinade for another go on Tuesday night. Woohoo!

It Takes a City...

2009-02-11T03:08:00.000-08:00

Dan put me onto a sermon by Tim Keller (from Manhattan) with the provocative title, It Takes a City to Raise a Child. I won't try to summarise it, but let me put it this way: We all have a pretty clear idea of what's meant by the tag, "a great place to raise kids", and it doesn't involve inner-city living. Well, Keller applies the blow-torch.

You can stream the sermon from the Redeemer website for free.

In other news...

Last week we ducked away to a friend's apartment in Mona Vale (Northern Beaches) for a few nights. It was fantastic. Within walking distance of the beach we just spent a whole bunch of time relaxing, paddling, swimming, re-applying sunscreen, reading, looking for crabs. Delightful.

Tuesday was my first day of College for the year - my final year! It was a one-day intensive on Textual Criticism. (i.e. How we figure out what the original text of the Bible was; what errors have crept in over time; how can we peel them away, etc., etc.)

My summary: you really can trust your English bibles, people.

Ahead of starting college I finished all of my (college) Summer Assignments. This was a big one:

If I had to single-out the doctrinal heart of Moore's degree courses, I'd say it's Calvin's Institutes (we read the whole thing over the course of the degree). The highlight of this Summer's reading was his stuff on prayer.

Speaking of which, please thank God for our great summer break. Please pray that we don't get impatient with our last year up here, but rather throw ourselves into these last months in Sydney with a real spirit of generosity and eagerness.

Fads for a week of study

2009-01-23T02:02:00.000-08:00

This week has seen two more holiday fads take hold:

Bible college is definitely a time to really wrap your head around tricky doctrines. And for some time now I've been wanting to take a thorough look at infant baptism. Rather conveniently, my doctrine essay this year will be on the topic. So this week I've had my head in the books. Some guys I've read so far include Karl Barth, Robert Reymond, Broughton Knox... oh yeah, and the Bible ;)
Contrastingly, I've been watching a video podcast called The Wood Whisperer. It's outstanding. I just want to build stuff and I've decided I need a plunge router. The guy reminds me heaps of Jason, but a Jason who is nuts for his workshop instead of nuts for computers and all the rest. Anyway, check out the wood whisperer if you're remotely interested in building stuff with timber.

A Holiday of Fads

2009-01-23T01:42:00.000-08:00

On our return from Hobart, this was the sight of our backyard... well, the plant that had taken over half of it.

Our tomato plant had been going gang busters. So we basically ate tomatoes flat-out for a few days. Happily, our basil followed the tomato vine's lead. Bring on Jamie's mothership tomato salad!

So the first fad (for me at least!) of our return to Sydney was definitely gardening. It was pretty relaxing and really satisfying to make the garden bed out the front actually look presentable (it had become a mess).

Right now I'm watching my rockmelons (!) and eggplants germinate on the window sill. As a Tasmanian I'm actually thrilled at the very prospect of growing rockmelons... I was sharing my enthusiasm with a Queenslander; she didn't even flinch. What's the big deal? Rockmelons. That's the big deal.

Family and Coffee: Two of my Favourite Things

2008-12-08T01:46:00.000-08:00

This is what our family looks like in holiday mode. Lily especially has the hang of it :)

We've done a fair bit of not-much recently. Plenty of hangin' around home. Kate's noticed that I actually take up space in the house, so having me around makes the place feel smaller... so far I'm still welcome, though ;)

We've done some little outings: the zoo, DFO, the pool, Petersham (ah! the Portuguese custard tarts and butchers!), BBQ with friends.

The other day I went to a course run by these guys:

It was a birthday present, which I only got around to taking up rather belatedly!

The course was great. It was their introductory level course, so I'd heard much of it before. But I think I walked out with three great things:

The fire in my belly for coffee was fanned into flames.
It was fun to use commercial machines; even that little bit of experience was cool.
I now know how to make a long black. (I guess I just never learned how).

I guess you could also add: (4) Absolutely wired from having so much coffee. Anyway, thanks very much to those who gave me that little course (all those months ago!).

Happy days drinking coffee.

Low Key Times

2008-11-26T00:53:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-12T00:56:00.000-08:00

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.

Weather Widgets to Improve your Life

2008-10-20T01:05:00.000-07:00

Well, sort of.

My family is pretty keen on knowing the weather. Either to plan washing for tomorrow, or to avoid getting drenched in the next 45mins on my bike, there's nothing like a rain radar and a seven day forecast.

These are the best two weather widgets I've seen:

The first is TheBom Weather Widget. The second is BOMRadar.Au

Enjoy :)

Noah and the Beanstalk

2008-10-17T20:49:00.001-07:00

The beans that we planted with Granny and Grandpa have been rocketing up! I'm kindof hoping that one day Noah will come home with gold, a hen, and a harp... perhaps I'd better leave an axe in the backyard ;)

Slugs are our biggest trouble with the beans. I think this is the first practical example of trying to teach Noah about our place in the created order (i.e. helping him to understand why I'll squash slugs, but care for worms and lizards).

It may be blurry, but this is our first tomato. Kate thinks our tomato plant is taking over, and she's sortof right - it's huge! With the onset of spring our herbs, especially, have really taken off. Our lettuce are big enought to harvest, too. Yippee!

In other news, all my written assessments have been handed in now. So it's just the count-down to exams. That means lots and lots of work to do, but lots of learning in the midst of it. For example, I came across this gem while reading Martin Luther's Freedom of a Christian:

'He [the Christian] does not distinguish between friends and enemies or anticipate their thankfulness or unthankfulness, but he most freely and most willingly spends himself and all that he has, whether he wastes all on the thankless or whether he gains a reward. As his Father does, distributing all things to all men richly and freely.'

Gold stuff. Makes me really see the amount of work the gospel still has to do on my own motives and attitudes.

PS. Yesterday I got my hands on a book that I'm rather excited about reading (during Summer!). It's called Intellectuals. It was recommended by Phillip Jensen in one of his machine-gun book reviews. Looking at characters like Rousseau, Marx, Bertrand Russell, Sartre, etc., it 'examines whether intellectuals are morally fit to give advice to humanity' (from the back cover).

Thanatophobia

2008-10-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

At the risk of sounding rather morbid...

I just read this book review in the NY Times. Looks like it might be an interesting read.

On a similar topic, I just finished Camus' The Plague. It deals quite a bit with love, hope, and the experience of suffering.

Thanatophobia... cf. 1 Cor 15:55-58.

3,292

2008-09-14T03:28:00.001-07:00

This last week has involved a massive effort to get my Old Testament essay finished ahead of my folks arriving in town yesterday. I just managed to scrape it through in time: 3,292 words of essay in the end.

I had a little help, though...

The essay question was a little less scary than my last one. Here it is:

Critically examine the text of 1 Samuel 12:19-25, and explore the way in which it contributes to the theology of kingship.

The passage is the tail-end of the prophet Samuel's final speech to Israel as their leader. He basically promised to continue on as prophet, praying for and instructing the people in God's word, and calls on Israel to follow the Lord, only, looking to Him for rescue and security. It was quite an enjoyable essay to write.

Having said all that, gosh it's great to be finished. That's the last major assessment for the year before exams, and it's a massive milestone to have passed. Term 4 awaits. Baby, and exams! But for now... *sigh of relief*... holidays.

PS. For those interested, John Woodhouse's new commentary on 1 Samuel is excellent; it's a real preacher's commentary. And David Tsumura's NICOT commentary is great for a more technical (Hebrewy) one.

Greek Geeks

2008-09-05T02:42:00.000-07:00

This afternoon was our Greek 2 exam. I think it went pretty well.

So that's the end of Greek. No more. We've learned all that we're going to. Well, in an isolated subject anyway. Although we'll continue to use Greek in our New Testament subjects, we won't have it as a separate subject from here on.

Oh yeah, and that's the end of Term 3, too. This year is flying!

Preaching OT Narrative

2008-09-01T03:01:00.000-07:00

In a few weeks I'll be preaching on 2 Kings 16-17. Preaching narrative sections of the Old Testament is something that Dave Thurston, the minister at our church, is really keen for us to learn to do well. Heaps of the Bible is narrative, after all. As a part of that, Dave's been encouraging us (his student ministers) to work at being good story-tellers.

When I was in Tassie last, David Jones recommended this book to me in connection with preaching the Old Testament:

The Word Became Fresh: How to Preach from Old Testament Narrative Texts

I finished it last night. It's a little pearler of a book simply because Dale Ralph Davis (a veteran preacher) takes you under his wing as he thinks about Old Testament narrative. It's not exhaustive, it's not deep and complex. It's just sitting with a guy who loves narrative and loves reading the story of God's work in history. He's a sensitive reader (i.e. he notices stuff that I might pass over), and he's a good writer.

There's only one bit that I think is a bit shonky, and that's his little section on the relationship between Jesus and the Old Testament. My quibble is only small, though, in the scheme of things.

On another note, how about 'Ralph' for a middle name??! I guess it wouldn't go so well for a girl... ;)

Stuff to Eat. Stuff to Buy.

2008-08-26T03:36:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday was the College Winter Carnival. As well as Sing Star, Story Telling, and a cool Magic Show, there was a baking comp. We (well, Kate) entered a chocolate and pear tart, which is probably yummier than the yummiest thing you've ever seen ;)

Second Prize was the result. (Congrats to Kate, of course). A travesty of justice if you ask me... How could anything possibly be better than pear and chocolate? How? ;)

In other news... if you're partial to a technical commentary then you need to get yourself to Koorong and grab some of the Baker Exegetical series. My mate Jai tipped me off to the sale: they're three for the price of two, at the moment. I already own the John commentary (by Köstenberger); and I've heard very good things about the ones pictured here. The other book in the pile is Berkhof's systematics. It's running out at the bargain price of $16.95. Outrageous.

(For those of you who aren't familiar with the lingo, commentaries are the books that get down to the real nuts and bolts of the books of the Bible to figure out, very precisely, what they are, and are not, saying. Technical ones like these work from the original language.)

Noah reckons my new books are good for driving trains on.

I'm still feeling pretty pooped from last week, and my greek exam is now just ten days or so away. Kate's increasingly feeling very 'pregnant' with all the exhaustion and awkwardness that that entails. Ahhh. Sleep is just the best stuff in the world... when we can get it!