Treasuring God's Word

Post exams coffee at the worlds #1 cafe

One semester down and another to go! It's been an awesome time, and as I mentioned to many of you while I was in Tassie, the College experience of both study and living in community is intense, but it is also wonderful being part of a loving and supportive cohort. Occasionally, I do feel a bit of imposter syndrome, but it's good to have some closer friends who assure me I do belong.

I finished and passed all 3 of my exams, which consisted of Greek, Hebrew and Biblical Theology. Somehow, my highest score was in Hebrew, despite it being the subject I struggle the most with (in fairness, it was a very gracious exam). I'm glad to get some personal tutoring in this now!

Post exams, I was quite surprised by how long it took before I started to feel a bit more rejuvenated. Doing study 5 days a week and then student ministry on Sunday, it does sometimes take a physical toll. However, it was a wonderful blessing to return home and fully relax, away from the college environment.

Getting back to Tassie for 12 days was a great way to finish the winter break. It was wonderful to catch up with many of you. I've been surprised that even after only 5 months that so much has changed! From my nephew growing up, to people and happenngs at my home church and even the landscape of Launceston.

Hiking the Cradle with Angelo

While being in Sydney, it seems I've been quite an advocate for Tassie at college. During my time down, two people in my year also decided to honeymoon in Tassie. Somehow, I was even able to convince a friend in the third year to do a short trip. During that time, I led him to one of our icons, Cradle Mountain. I had forgotten how beautiful the area is. It was the perfect day for it, clear skies and still patches of snow around. We reached Marion's Lookout fairly quickly, so the thought of trying to summit the Cradle was very tempting. We did give it a go and got about 15 minutes from the top before needing to turn around. The day was running out, and the last section was a little too dangerous to continue. Still an amazing trip, and the view was fantastic with such elevation.

When I got back to Newtown, I couldn't say I missed the busy, noisy city vibe. I had literally gone for a walk with my dad that morning and can remember the quiet, peaceful surroundings, hearing birds chirping. I'll probably have to wait till the end of the year to hear that again.

It's been a packed start to the semester. In the past 5 weeks we've had;

• Mission Awareness Week: It’s definitely been a week of the yummiest food we’ve had all year, with flavours from all around the world. But more than that, the real encouragement was a series of sermons and seminars helping us think about how we can share the many gifts (education, resources, money, etc.) God has blessed us here to help the global church.
• Annual Moore College Lectures: Given by our local New Testament lecturer, Peter Orr, on the Biblical Theology of Faith, which he prepared while on study leave for the past 6 months. It consisted of five academic lectures, seeing how it has always been through faith that God has saved his people. Although some of it was too technical for me, it was fruitful to explore deeply what faith actually is.
• Ministry & Mission Intensive: A dedicated week on cross-cultural discipleship. Not just unpacking how the gospel changes people as we disciple them, but more so, how is our own godliness growing, and are we being discipled? An edifying week, which encouraged me to further reflect on my own spiritual development as a Christian. As a result, I'm working on my own vulnerability with others.

This semester, I have been enjoying our Old Testament class. Unlike some of the other subjects, the content in this one feels less familiar but also very interesting. One of the key focuses of the unit is understanding the Old Testament context, particularly within the Torah (first 5 books). At times, I have questioned the purpose of the task. Yet by looking at other Ancient Near Eastern texts, we can see more clearly what makes the Bible unique in what it seeks to communicate, in contrast to other writings at the time.

TBL Team for Old Testament

A unique part of this class is team-based learning (TBL), where every Thursday we have to work together to write a micropaper summarising our learning for that week. The purpose of last week's task was to see what made the God of Israel unique and to understand the significance of Moses's words from Deuteronomy. At the end, I was awe-struck by Yahweh, who personally reveals himself to Israel, not in physical form but by his voice through his covenants and laws, standing unique from the rest of creation. To worship anything else is to make an idol out of the Creator's creation. The process of doing this task revealed an additional layer of God's character to me and what makes him distinct. There have only been a few moments where an academic class has led me to want to genuinely praise God afterwards, and I was thankful for this one. It reminded me of the privilege and joy it is to study God's word each day, and a great thing to treasure.

As I have been reading recently.

Psalm 119:14-16
I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.
I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.
I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word.

The next two weeks are quite full on, with some of the biggest assignments for the year! This Friday, I need to submit a discipleship plan for Ministry & Mission worth 70%. The following Friday, my first research essay will be due for Old Testament. Within this time, I also need to prepare a sermon for church on what it means to be biblically sharp. All up around 7500 words. Please pray that I would be faithful in all these responsibilities.

Camping trip after term 1

Friday Chappo "family" dinner

Exploring Vivid

Not quite how I planned to wake up on my birthday

Spirit Island (a new favourite game at Chappo)