Thank God for friends!!

So incredibly touched by the surprise party thrown by the OCF-ers on Sunday afternoon.. Thank you, Steph, and all the other organisers and helpers ;) I cannot express how much i appreciate the preparation put into the food/planning the event and the wonderful album of memories, plus the presence of so many, especially so close to the exams. Definitely unexpected, and i will miss all these brothers and sisters dearly even as i start a new page in my book, as Raymond put ;)

And i thought of the third thing i would like to pass on to the OCF (which was one of the questions posed to me for those who weren't there at that time):
1) Enjoy and make the full use of your time overseas. Do what you might not be able to do back home and enjoy the new experiences. But don't forget what you're here for and what really matters - study hard, build relationships, and do everything as unto the Lord!
2) Reach out to others, especially taking special care of those who might not be as comfortable in the OCF. If everyone made it a point to talk to someone new each week, the fellowship would really be a place where people feel welcomed and have that sense of belonging in the group.
3) This is the time to start serving. Whether in big or small ways, whether behind the scenes in the kitchen helping to serve food or clean up, or helping with the singing, powerpoint etc., this is the best chance to see what your spiritual gifts are, and would provide the best platform to start before serving in church and other ministries :)

Praying for you all as you prepare for the upcoming exams..!

Looking at the world through “grace-tinted” lenses

Just finished reading Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace? and the book really spoke to me about what grace is and how much difference we could make in this world if we really followed Jesus’ example by showing grace to others. Also ties in real well with what i’ve been learning this year about outreach and building relationships with people and making conversations count. It’s definitely a challenge to show grace and love to others if we don’t think they “deserve” it, but that’s really the whole point – none of us deserve it. How cool; even if i can’t be as graceful as a gazelle, i still can learn to be grace-full like my Father :D

We had our last presentation and last class of the course yesterday, followed by drinks at the pub, reminiscent of last year when i think we went to the same place at the same time.. Can’t say the mood was very celebratory (although there were muffins and Freddos and Smarties during the class!) – most of the coursemates have one last placement to complete before it’s really over. But it really has been a blessing to have met these great people, and ‘suffered’ and rejoiced with them through the thesis process especially, and i do hope the friendships will continue. It’s quite exciting really. Now even as those who are graduating assess the prospects ahead, we are faced with (hopefully) some choices, and the decisions we make will be governed by our priorities and values, to some extent. Want to commit the future to God and choose what’s best, not by my own wisdom, but according to what would please Him and make Him look good :)

By the way, we were shown a clip from a movie called Mozart and the Whale yesterday, in which Josh Hartnett plays someone with Asperger’s Syndrome. Quite interesting! Don’t mind watching the full thing, along with Tim’s favourite, Napoleon Dynamite ;P

Handed in!

Praise the Lord, my coursemates and i all managed to hand in our theses yesterday! It was definitely a relief, and although there were certainly no fireworks to mark the event, and even though some would’ve liked more time to work on it, think we’re all pretty happy that this big part of the course is over. Thank you to all the people who prayed for me and encouraged me, and the many who helped in practical ways too, with the testing, questionnaire, stats, proof-reading etc.. If i were to list all the names in my Acknowledgements, i really think it would have gone over one page! So blessed by the support of dear friends :)

So now there’s just one last presentation and one more essay to do before i fly home. Will be starting to pack and trying to catch up with everyone before i leave Perth.