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.

Weather Widgets to Improve your Life

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

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

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

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

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

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... ;)