In other news, I have the beginnings of a profile. At the moment it's just a photo, but it's there. Check it out...
http://afes.org.au/profile/heather-greenThursday, October 17, 2013
I sort of have a supporter!
That's right, somebody has volunteered to give me money! The only, very slight problem is that she is currently unemployed, but if she gets a job she will surely help. What a landmark!
Friday, October 11, 2013
Valley of the Giants
This is one of the things on the to-do list for the big road trip, go to Denmark in the South-West and walk around the tops of trees. It's somewhat of a detour but I reckon it will be worth it.
Valleyofthegiants.com.au
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
A one way plane ticket!
Yup! The big move is on!
I probably should mention that the plane ticket is for my brother not for me; he is flying to Perth and we are going to drive my car all the way accross the country, home in time for Christmas with the family.
Suggestions of cool things to see and places to visit are welcome!
I probably should mention that the plane ticket is for my brother not for me; he is flying to Perth and we are going to drive my car all the way accross the country, home in time for Christmas with the family.
Suggestions of cool things to see and places to visit are welcome!
Saturday, June 9, 2012
The coin toss
Some decisions are really hard. I'm not all that fast at making decisions at the best of times, but sometimes there are two really good options and it doesn't matter which one I go with. In these cases, the coin comes out. Heads is the green one, tails is the blue one. Flip coin, decision made.
But whenever this has happened to me, I tend to toss the coin and then choose the option which goes against the results of the toss. My housemate considers this dreadful. He can't understand why, having decided that it's too close to call, I can't stick with the coin toss. It took me ages to work out the reason for it, but I think I've got it now.
I reckon it's because I resent being told what to do by a bit of metal. Or perhaps more accurately, I don't like not being able to have something that is good, even if I have a different good thing, when I didn't choose to not have it. The coin tells me 'you can't have the green' to which I respond 'but I really like the green' but if the coin had said I couldn't have the blue, I would probably go for the blue, because I like the blue as well.
This explains why I didn't toss a coin for my decisions about MTS. Other than the fact that they are probably too big to make with twenty cents, obviously. The thing is, I always wanted to work in Newcastle. It's home. But I wanted to make sure I didn't choose based entirely in what I fell like but also on how I can serve others, and how I can grow as well, so I decided to check out Perth unis.
Anyway, I could have decided in the thoroughly blibical method of drawing lots,which would have definitely put me where God wants me to be, but then if the coin had said
But whenever this has happened to me, I tend to toss the coin and then choose the option which goes against the results of the toss. My housemate considers this dreadful. He can't understand why, having decided that it's too close to call, I can't stick with the coin toss. It took me ages to work out the reason for it, but I think I've got it now.
I reckon it's because I resent being told what to do by a bit of metal. Or perhaps more accurately, I don't like not being able to have something that is good, even if I have a different good thing, when I didn't choose to not have it. The coin tells me 'you can't have the green' to which I respond 'but I really like the green' but if the coin had said I couldn't have the blue, I would probably go for the blue, because I like the blue as well.
This explains why I didn't toss a coin for my decisions about MTS. Other than the fact that they are probably too big to make with twenty cents, obviously. The thing is, I always wanted to work in Newcastle. It's home. But I wanted to make sure I didn't choose based entirely in what I fell like but also on how I can serve others, and how I can grow as well, so I decided to check out Perth unis.
Anyway, I could have decided in the thoroughly blibical method of drawing lots,which would have definitely put me where God wants me to be, but then if the coin had said
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Did I get the job?
Short answer: no. I didn't fail, but rather the whole conversation led me to the conclusion that I don't want to train in Perth. Hooray, a decision is made! And! The other major decision, 'When?' is also pretty much made. I am to begin at the start of 2014. This is less than certain, but it's heading that way. Next step is to inform important people of my decisions.
There were heaps of useful things I got out of the conversation with Rosemary though, other than 'I don't want to stay here.' We had a game of Who Do We Both Know, starting with my parents (who know everybody). We talked about long term plans, trainer/trainee relationships, what is available in Perth, lots of other things which I forget. The thing I hadn't thought of was that I should try to raise support for MTS and keep my savings for if I go to Bible college. There you go.
Coming up: why I don't make decisions with coins!
There were heaps of useful things I got out of the conversation with Rosemary though, other than 'I don't want to stay here.' We had a game of Who Do We Both Know, starting with my parents (who know everybody). We talked about long term plans, trainer/trainee relationships, what is available in Perth, lots of other things which I forget. The thing I hadn't thought of was that I should try to raise support for MTS and keep my savings for if I go to Bible college. There you go.
Coming up: why I don't make decisions with coins!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Feeling nervous
So the email thread has resulted in a meeting, I won't bore you with the ins and outs. It's in half an hour. I'm nervous because I need to go to bed in three hours and worry about how much time I will spend there, and also because I now realise I have nothing to say. I can't think of any questions, and don't really have any intelligent, easily shareable thoughts as far as I can see. There are lots of things I want to say (rant about), but since I have never met Rosemary before, I don't know if I will actually say them. But I'm essentially going to an interview, without a hint of preparation. I did spend a bit of time picking my outfit and worrying about my fringe. I wanted to imply "I'm a cool, modest, frugal uni-student type, who can hide an overly long fringe when required." we shall see how successful I will be. Stay tuned...
Monday, May 21, 2012
Church tourism
I while ago I visited a Catholic church with my friend. Last Sunday I decided to visit a church chosen entirely based on geography: the nearest church to my house. This turned out to be a Uniting church. The only thing I know about the Uniting Church as an organisation is that it is a bit of a conglomeration of a bunch of other denominations: Methodists, Presbyterians and Congregationals according to Wikipedia.
Now, I could spend ages talking about music, robes, demographics, buildings, sermon length, morning tea, welcomedness, or any of a whole raft of things we love to discuss when talking about churches. But really, whether these things are good or bad, they pale into insignificance when placed next to the great failing of this church: they have lost the gospel. In his sermon on Acts 1, the minister failed to mention the promise of the Holy Spirit, the expectation of the spread of the gospel, the historicity of the resurrection, the promise of the return of Christ, or anything else that the passage really mentioned. Instead, he reached the conclusion that heaven (to be fair, it is mentioned three times in the passage) is present on earth, achieved by Christians taking part in social action. He referred to an article in Time magazine to support this. During the service, a young woman stood up and spoke about what the youth of the Uniting Church had decided was important, namely, social justice. She read a statement composed by the delgates at a recent youth leadership conference which listed Aboriginal rights, assistance for immigrants and refugees, and reducing the gap between rich and poor as high priorities (among others which I forget).
Now, I should say that these things are very important, but here they have been placed in the centre, a position rightfully belonging to Jesus. Signing up to causes and raising awareness of social issues has taken the place of boldly proclaiming Christ's death and resurrection, and the forgiveness of sins to those who believe. This pattern continued as I went for coffee with a couple of girls afterwards. One of the girls described the Christian group at her university as a bit crazy, implying that they took evangelism too far at the expense of being sensitive to the needs of those they preached to. Maybe that is true, but the Bible shows that forgiveness is the greatest need anybody has (Matt 9:1-8), so surely it would be preferable to be too bold and cause offence, rather than be over careful and withhold salvation.
As always, it took two days for the good responses to come to me, but at the very least I have been encouraged again to be bold and hold fast to the message of the cross which is the power of God for salvation.
Now, I could spend ages talking about music, robes, demographics, buildings, sermon length, morning tea, welcomedness, or any of a whole raft of things we love to discuss when talking about churches. But really, whether these things are good or bad, they pale into insignificance when placed next to the great failing of this church: they have lost the gospel. In his sermon on Acts 1, the minister failed to mention the promise of the Holy Spirit, the expectation of the spread of the gospel, the historicity of the resurrection, the promise of the return of Christ, or anything else that the passage really mentioned. Instead, he reached the conclusion that heaven (to be fair, it is mentioned three times in the passage) is present on earth, achieved by Christians taking part in social action. He referred to an article in Time magazine to support this. During the service, a young woman stood up and spoke about what the youth of the Uniting Church had decided was important, namely, social justice. She read a statement composed by the delgates at a recent youth leadership conference which listed Aboriginal rights, assistance for immigrants and refugees, and reducing the gap between rich and poor as high priorities (among others which I forget).
Now, I should say that these things are very important, but here they have been placed in the centre, a position rightfully belonging to Jesus. Signing up to causes and raising awareness of social issues has taken the place of boldly proclaiming Christ's death and resurrection, and the forgiveness of sins to those who believe. This pattern continued as I went for coffee with a couple of girls afterwards. One of the girls described the Christian group at her university as a bit crazy, implying that they took evangelism too far at the expense of being sensitive to the needs of those they preached to. Maybe that is true, but the Bible shows that forgiveness is the greatest need anybody has (Matt 9:1-8), so surely it would be preferable to be too bold and cause offence, rather than be over careful and withhold salvation.
As always, it took two days for the good responses to come to me, but at the very least I have been encouraged again to be bold and hold fast to the message of the cross which is the power of God for salvation.
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