SLIGHTLY ODWAY...

Well this has been the most full-on two days I’ve had in a very long time. Apologising now for the potentially excessively long post. Last night I made a quick list of the main events – about 20 in total – so it’s gonna be a bit of a ramble. Sorry…

Thursday night I had spent biology assignmenting, and by the time it got to 5am on Friday morn I couldn’t do any more. So I jumped into bed and took ages to get to sleep. So I had got about an hours sleep when my buzzer went off at 6:30am and I had to go to school. Not a good look I must say. But I got the assignment finished by 2pm and handed it in by the end of the day, so God pulled through yet again. I think He likes doing that. I reckon He’s up there chuckling to Himself and saying, “Here she goes again, stressing and asking for My help. I’ll just let her rely on Me completely to pull her out. It’ll be another trust-building exercise. What fun I can have…” He’s a good God. He really truly is.

Got the PD assignment back yesterday too. The day before Miss Montgomery had been saying that the top mark was 98/100, bottom was around 45 and the average was around the 70’s. Oooo, the class was in disarray. Who got the top mark? Hmmmm. So Friday when we got the marks back (I was a bit late to class coz I was doing the bio assignment), disbelief hit when I read that mark. Surely the 98 wasn’t me. So I re-read the mark – yes it said 98. Well it must be someone else’s paper – nope, it certainly was my name “LAUREN S.”… Stoked! It’s cool coz only a few other people close-by in my class knows it was me, but I could almost feel their resentment. Woohoo! I beat Emma Barnes - the PD nerd! So satisfying. Don’t you just love those times when you pour everything you have into one particular thing for an entire week and it just soars! It’s not really that bigger deal I guess, but man it made my day.

And that day really did pick up from there. Small group was brill! We prayed, discussed the study of how to read the bible and the girls were so wonderful. They (with a little help) came up with 3 things to help understand a verse:
1. What did the verse mean to the people back then?
2. What does it mean for me now?
3. How can I apply it to my life?
Our girls are truly blessed. Beck’s wonderful. The animal game is so fun. Our little community is gradually growing. Elizabeth can again! She isn’t a Christian, but I have hopes and dreams for her. I really do feel like God has something good prepared for her. I really really want to encourage her. Note to self – hurry up and go to Koorong to get bibles for Elizabeth and Dominique, and a pocket-sized one for Nic (coz she’s leaving for Europe on Saturday!!!).

Then cruising with Chris to Dayspring Church to the Worship conference. Challenging, encouraging, inspiring, Spirit-filled - my favourite things… Andrew Naylor from CCC Whitehorse (Melbourne) talked about how we can worship God in everything we do and how growing closer to God isn’t a matter of receiving more grace/gifts/love/whatever, it’s about giving up the crap that we like to cling to on Earth. Sure, we’ve all heard people talk about storing up treasures in Heaven, rather than on Earth (Matt 6:19-20), and that God’s love for each one of us couldn’t be any greater than it already is. Yes, these are great things, but I think they’ve been heard so many times that it almost loses its intended meaning. Andrew really refreshed that in me. I’m inspired to read a Psalm and a Proverb everyday. Much to be learned even if you’d read the same passage a hundred times. Hmmm, we should be able to get something new and amazing every time we read a verse. But I also think that, although the bible is a means to learning God’s will and character, we will never ever understand Him. I was originally going to say “at all” on the end, but that contradicts the last sentence I wrote, then I thought “completely”, but that’s just so obvious and didn’t fit the meaning that I was trying to impart, and then I thought “enough” – well that works. I think that there will always be something new that I want to know about God. Even in Heaven, I don’t think we’ll know much at all about God, we’ll just be completely satisfied that we’re in His incredible presence. Like with Adam and Eve – God didn’t want them to eat from the tree of wisdom and knowledge (Gen 2:17). Ok sorry, getting side-tracked – something I can talk about later… Ok but I was really encouraged to dedicate my life to worshipping and praising God through every situation. So yeh, I still need more time to dwell (ha! the conference was called Dwell) on that stuff before I can discuss it further.
Chris is brill – he drove me all the way home! Wow! I don’t think anyone’s done that for me for a very very very long time. Thankyou Chris – and good on you for finding your way home (right, left, right, left, right…). I’ve been able to deal with it a bit better lately, but man I got so upset sometimes by the fact that I live so far away and noone comes to visit me (except my beautiful Maryanne who is an absolute champ! She made me a cake coz it was Thanksgiving Day… Felt so loved! oh and matt stano when he came to have a jam a few weeks ago - i like jamming...). I always seem to be at other people’s houses – don’t get me wrong, coz I am fully appreciative that I have such loving friends who allow me into their lives and their homes and look after me – I just wish I could do the same in return. Like a few weeks ago we’d organised to have a home group gathering at my house, and a handful of people came. It was a great night of much shenaniganising, but it just hurt that people don’t wanna come to my place coz I guess they have better stuff to do with their lives. Rrrrrrrr it makes me angry sometimes, coz maybe people don’t get it that maybe it’s out of my way to come to davidson and they just except me to get there and hang out for an hour and then go home again. Frustrating that sometimes I spend more time driving then hanging out. But yeh… where was I? Hmmm oh yeh. Chris is tops – true quality. Great company, great music, great God, great joy…

So my house is looking quite shocking at the moment. It was a mission just to get inside, coz the entranceway (which is now concreted and existant, instead of the freaky hole that was there for a fortnight or so) is now covered in poles and timber and beams and other precarious obstacles. The only way in is across a wobbly little plank of wood and dodging foundational structures and squeezing in through the front door. What an adventure! So I finally got in and had some dinner and watched a bit of “Little Women” and decided that I love those kind of English movies, but you have to watch from the very beginning or it isn’t as inspiring. Hmmm and then sleep…

Alarm went off at 7:30am. Grumble grumble, then “Oh yeh, good morning God!”. And what a good morning it was – seriously the sky was so clear and everything seemed so fresh. I was ready! I don’t know what for, but something was brewing…
On the way to Chris’s place, I realised I didn’t actually know how to get there. So while reading my street directry, I succeeding in a much embarrassing “thud!” as I carreered into a gutter. Hmmm tsk tsk. Naughty Lauren. Car’s fine (I think). Much embarrassment. I didn’t intend on telling anyone, but I ended up laughing about it with Chris, and now I’m writing it in my blog – I don’t know why, I guess it’s that whole honesty thing that I’m going through. Yeh… everybody knows that I’m a TR (terribly reckless – my number plate) driver anyway, so I may as well join in on the ‘shaking head at lauren’ phase. So I met Chris’s gorgeous dog and he took us on a scenic route through the wilderness, which I enjoyed. Nature is good.

Wow just found that I’m only on point 9 of my list, so I should probably get my skates on…

Ok so next session of the Dayspring conference and man I loved the worship. There was this gorgeous violin playing with the band throughout the conference, and it really made me realise that I missed having some extra instrument in our worship bands at church. It all faded away a few years ago. We used to have saxes, horns, flutes, etc and it’s all stopped. Why? We had such a good thing going. Chris decided that he’s gonna ask Gwin Swan to play violin in worship sometime perhaps. Sounds good. So keeping on going now, Scott Ezzy had a bit of a talk. He really does get excited! It’s contagious I think. I think it must be Jesus’ joy breaking loose and making His presence known. It was really good to be reminded what worship is all about. And everything else doesn’t matter. Just praise God! And have fun doing it. As Scezzy would say “I like that!”

Session 3: Andrew Naylor again – talking about change and freedom. A muchly challenging and insightful discussion. I like knowing that love and truth are always available from God. And I’m encouraged to adjust things in my life so that I can keep progressing with God. I want to be a flagbearer of hope, not a stature of pride. And I wanna start reading Dr Suess books – I love hidden messages and morals in kids books.

Lunch time was adventurous. Someone had mentioned about there being a Subway place up the road a bit, so Chris and I went looking. And looking. And looking. And eventually we found it – “the last place we looked” (ha! yay Chris). Well after making a dork of myself and accidentally tipping coke all over Chris (in the most likely of all places) and eating excessively and almost embarrassingly slowly, we headed back talking of animal injuries and deaths. I think that’s something I love about chats with Chris – you can talk about anything and it’s always fulfilling. Yay for him not being stroppy about my clumsy annoyingness of coke tippage and uncomfortable circumstances.

Session 4 with David Crabtree – Pastoring Worship. So true: WORSHIP IS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT THE SPIRIT. Sure we can stand there and raise our hands, sing out and all, but if we aren’t actually engaging with Jesus, something’s wrong. Funny analogy was that we need to “slobber all over God”, like a dog does to his master. Hmmm that’s cool. And I like knowing that God isn’t offended when we make mistakes in our worship.

Session 5: Scott Ezzy and the band. Practical stuff all to do with consistency and timing. I enjoyed. I laughed. Much funnies. Good stuff. Challenging though – I’m excited for God to take over my worship, so that His Spirit is completely leading.

The bass player from soul survivor (who I can’t remember his name ahh! Help me Chris. Something like David… nope, it’s gone) asked Chris and I to join him and some of his friends for dinner at a restaurant in Kellyville. Felt very included and accepted. And it turned out so good coz we went to the Mean Fiddler, which I was kinda thinking how cool it would be if we went there. When I saw the sign, oh yeah baby! Bit disappointed that we didn’t get served like Nic had described all those years ago that made me want to go so much, but man I just loved the culture of the whole complex. Can’t wait to go to Ireland one day, and find some long lost relo. After eating too much for dinner, we went off and played some snooker. Not very good. I miss my snooker table. I have lost so many skills, I was shocked. What’s going on. I even sunk the black ball for the other team in the end. Aww man! Shocker…

Yay back to Dayspring for final session. T’was the worship and ministry time. Ohh man the Lord filled that place so completely!!! God rocks! I really mean that – He had everything completely and utterly in His hands. It was weird at first, but after a few people getting really touched by the prophetic stuff, I loved it. there’s no denying that the Lord God almighty reigns! Oh man, and after dancing and moshing at the end, I just couldn’t contain the joy of the Lord. Man yeh! How AWESOME Is God!!! Ahhwooo!

Had such a good chat with Chris about everything. I loved it. So encouraging. I love Chris chats. We just sat there in his car till midnight talking and talking and it was brill, snaz even. Talking is definitely one of the greatest gifts that God has blessed us with.

Made a by-pass driving home, and went down to my bay and just sat there on the sand, watching the boats rock back and forth. The water was so nice. And the stars were so bright. I love God chats too. Whenever I go down to the bay I remember stuff about Muffy. And especially coz I was talking to Chris about her today, it really brought it all back. And it’s ok. I’ll always remember her and the silly habits she had and the times that I would tell her everything. But I feel like God filled that hole last night. That pit of despair is closed up and now I can only smile about those memories. I love the healing that God brings at the most unexpected times. God is good. Praise the Lord!

Woke up th’smorn at 6:30am and couldn’t get back to sleep. Lying there thinking how blessed I am and how much God loves me and wants to be my counsellor. Bring it on! That’s really all I can say. I just feel like “yeh! Let’s go!” And then my trail of thought led me to ponder what it would be like to be attacked by a shark and have to get a prosthetic leg. Maybe it would be still be ok to lose an arm or a leg. God still loves you, and He still has plans for you, and in the end it doesn’t matter. I think it would help me to appreciate the real blessings I have in life more than I do currently. Hmmm in the shower I pretended I was a pastor. One day I want to do a sermon on Jesus love. It excited me so much that I feel like I might burst.

I sit here and type all the things that are going on inside my head (which I find is extraordinarily satisfying, coz it’s like a sort of debrief), and then I think to myself “oh man, I should get outside and live”. But no, I like sitting here at my desk with the morning sun warming my body and causing the water outside to sparkle and shine. I like watching the boats shoot past and I like listening to fine music and knowing that I can go downstairs and eat til heart’s content. Hmmm, sounds good, shall do… I’m off for a 12pm breaky… and then I’ll do my maths assignment that’s due tomorrow. Shall the Lord pull through again? Well I’m counting on it… Not like testing God, but more of an assurity that God will get me out of predicaments that i can't handle. God is the best!
Wow, this post POST took longer to write then intended - total of 4 A4 microsoft word pages, which you could say is impressive, but also very irritating for people who like short stories...