Tuesday, 25 November, 2003
Tomorrow afternoon Ben and I are leaving for Canberra. It's all crept up so quickly it kind of freaks me out. It freaks me out that we're going to be away for eleven and a half days. It freaks me out that we're going to another state (all right, I know it's Canberra, but still ...) It freaks me out a little that we're going to a conference with around 800 other students. Bring on National Training Event.
Don't get me wrong; I
am looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to hanging out with ECU-ers. I'm looking forward to seeing old friends again. I'm looking forward to helping other Christians develop good Bibe reading habits and encouraging them in the ministry of the word (we're leading a Strand 1 group and Strand 1 people have to prepare a 5-minute talk on a New Testament passage. It's a very good exercise—provided you keep it in perspective and don't get obsessive about doing it). I'm looking forward to having a break from work (which has been extremely boring and a bit tedious lately).
But eleven and a half days!
Day 1 and 2 is the Students for Christ conference, an expo for student work. Ben and I are doing music with it with the infamous Con Campbell (who plays saxophone) and Rebecca Jee who does the AFES publications.
Days 3 to 7 are for the conference part of NTE where we hear talks by Mike Raiter and Richard Chin (Richard's speaking on 1 Peter and I'll be interested to hear his conclusions on the “spirits in prison” bit which I've been thinking about all weekend and have formed my own theory about). We also have elective and meetings in our mission groups. We sleep in college accommodation (which is kind of cool because everyone gets their own room instead of sleeping in dorms with snorers and plastic bag-rustlers the way you normally do at a conference). We have free time.
Days 8 to 11 are for the mission part of NTE where everyone scatters to different parishes around the country and are billeted out with members of church congregations. We are going to Drummoyne Presbyterian and we'll be involved in running Scripture classes, youth group, kids' club, Sunday school, doorknocking (my favourite activity—NOT!) and other stuff. It's a chance for everyone to put into practice the theory they heard during the first part of the conference.
It sounds more full-on than it actually is; I mean, we get a whole day off (Saturday—Ben and I are going to Guan and Mary's wedding that day). But it still freaks me out somewhat.
That might be a good thing; it will force me to rely more on God. I should make sure I spend time praying while we're away. I've even re-done my
prayer cards just in time ...
/Karen/ had a thought at
7:22 PM |
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