I'm back!!!!

I didn't intentionally stop blogging - It's just been one of those extra busy times in my life. And so now the computer is free and I have some spare time.

I am back at Bible College this year and loving it. There is so much to think about and process! I'm still getting my head round double listening, and heaps of other stuff I am learning in class.

I have also learnt that going to Bible College does NOT automatically make you this person with all the fruits of the spirit shining through for all the world to see - in other words being in a place full of christians does NOT mean I will NOT need to be asking myself the question "Where is your long suffering, patience, gentleness, self control etc?"

I keep having these "light being switched on" moments at Bible College. Sometimes you can know something for a long time and that is all it is - just knowledge and then something happens and it becomes more than knowledge, it becomes a life changing and life challenging theology that makes you think and reshape what you thought about things.

Like realising that in John 3:16 when Jesus said "For God so loved the world... the world actually means "Cosmos" which is all of God's creation - the earth - as well as people.

So, what does that mean for me? If I am made in the image of God who loves the world, then what are my responsibilities as part of loving the cosmos - all of a sudden looking after the earth, especially where I live seems much more important in the light of this revelation - who knows? I could well be on the way to becoming a "greenie".

Life Lesson 25437

If you take your car to the panelbeater because taxi drivers think they don't have to stop at red lights, you need to remember not only to leave the key to your car and the remote key for the alarm, but you will also need to leave the alarm master key - so that when they disconnect your battery so they don't fry the electronics the alarm won't keep going off and driving them nuts.

It also means you won't get a very terse phone call from the panelbeater telling you to get down there with the alarm key ASAP! This is after he has already rung and you've told him the alarm key is in the glove box. Apparently the silver thingy in the glove box is not the alarm key, it is what you use to take the wheels off. (Well I was nearly right, they are both silver after all!)

Doh!

A grandmother's words

Was cleaning out a lot of old papers the other day and came across the letter written by my grandmother who was living in Shetland at the time.

...I didn't know you had a boyfriend until I got the snap with you and Lyn (my sister) dressed up going to the Methodist Ball. I hope there's nothing serious between you and Alastair yet. I sincerely hope you will not be thinking of marriage, Annette, for a long time yet. Just be good friends, and its nice to have a partner for any functions you are going to. So many youngsters get married now-a-days before they've had a chance to mix with the opposite sex. Soon they are quarrelling and the next thing is divorce. So please, Annette, wait for a few years yet....

Well Granny, I have to say you were wrong - I married Alastair 2 years later, we're still together 30 years later and we're not heading for divorce - although I can't say we've never quarrelled.

Room with a view

This is the view of Lake Brunner we woke up to each morning from our log cabin window, accompanied by the sound of bellbirds singing. But sadly the holiday is over and it is back to work...