What's up?

Some of the things I'm currently working on:

1. Training for youth leaders at Mt. Gambier Pres.  I'm looking forward to heading over to meet with these leaders and chat about the ministry at Mt. Gambier and hopefully be able to serve them in some way!  I'll be teaching on developing a strategy for Youth Ministry!

2. Gospel messages for youth group this year.  We'll be looking at various passages in Mark at our outreach nights.  Looking forward to challenging our young people to get to know who Jesus really is!

3. Bible study talks for youth group - trying to address some big apologetic questions.  Trying to understand it from a Biblical perspective, but also to learn how to have those conversations with non-Christians and how to work them into a gospel conversation.

4. Summer Camp workshop on 'singleness' - hopefully presenting a fresh perspective on this topic which I hope will be an encouragement to the young people.

5. Engage workshop on running a Friday night program at youth group.  Looking forward to watching closely this term when my team puts together a Friday night - see what's good, what could be better.  Looking forward to this important but fun time!

Getting a bit tired - holidays in one month! yippeee!

The latest!

Phew!  Survived September!!  It was chock-a-block, it was spectacular, it was everything a September should be!

Here is September in picture form!

We won the Grand Final of our Cup Competition for our Soccer Club.  We had a sweet victory (2/1) after a long tough 90 minutes! It was great fun, and it's been a great season, and I've missed Sport since it's been over!

Got to hang out with these crazy kids during PYV North Camp.  It was a great time away for a weekend.  We studied the book of Philippians with Heath Easton and got to have a wonderful time of fellowship with other young people around Victoria.

Don't wet me!

We had some long nights, some early mornings, great meals and lots of laughs.  It was Olympics themed so everyone dressed up in Olympics gear!

The next day, we went away on Ministry Family Camp.  I was involved in the Primary Program on camp, which was awesome!!  But of course, the highlight for me was catching up with lots of old friends, and enjoying some fellowship with others involved in Church Ministry.  It was a fabulous time.

The kids were awesome, leaders were sensational, soccer game was brutal (I've had scratches on my head ever since)!  A great week all round!

Got to catch up with lots of friends, and these heros!

The next day, I moved in with the Smith family to hang out with the boys while their parents were away.  We had friends over for the Grand Final (Joy's version of Christmas: have heaps of people over, eat a lot, lie on the couch and watch the game, eat some more, hang out till night, eat some more).  Since then, we've had lots of fun playing boardgames and having some adventures together.

Plans for the future

I've just been doing some work on 'the future'...a topic that is always scary, exciting and impossible to plan for!  And yet, in the long hours of the night, there it is, wanting to be chewed over, thought through, to have every single hypothetical accounted for.  It always seems to take hours and hours to do it justice, and even then, it's never quite figured out.

Something has to be said for Scriptures such as:
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money."  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."  As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes.  All such boasting is evil.  If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them.  (James 4:13-17)

Why, you don't even know...I mean, anything could happen!!

As usual, Scripture addresses the heart of the matter.  Are you investing your time in the future in order that you can boast in your plans?  Do you have arrogance and pride in your heart?  Does planning for the future limit your chances to respond to the opportunities you are presented today/tomorrow/the next day?  All very good questions!

So, Jesus says, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself!"  Come on, Joy, don't you have enough today to worry about?  Don't you have enough responsibility today to invest yourself in?  Doesn't Jesus say, instead of worrying, "seek first His Kingdom"?  And I know - there are some pretty solid reasons that I keep reminding myself, that there's no need to stress:

1. My God is in control (Daniel 4:35)
2. My God is for me! (for my good, He loves me, He knows best) (Romans 8:31-32)
3. My God has given me every reason to trust His faithfulness (Hebrews 10:23)
4. No matter what happens, I am being conformed to Christ (every worst case scenario is still a best case scenario!) (Romans 8:29)

All very good reasons to leave the future be, and get on with living it!  Of course, we shouldn't swing from planning to neglect, but let's not live for tomorrow, let's live for the Kingdom!

p.s. I'm not sorry that this post has no information on my current 'plans for the future' ... I don't really have any!