It's time.

If you've been checking in over the last few weeks to this site, you'll know that the end has been approaching for this blog, at least in the form you've known it for the last two years. We've really enjoyed blogging here at blogger, and we hope you've enjoyed reading too. Thanks for all the comments, laughs and discussions. It's been fun!

The last few weeks, Soph and I have been hard at work creating a new home for our blog, and we're very excited that we can now introduce you all to the new home of the fountainside... thefountainside.com! Head on over and check it out. Leave us a comment to tell us what you think!

Don't forget to update your links, bookmarks and RSS feeds.

The days of this blog are numbered.

We're wrapping things up. Soon.

Read at work

Bored at work and want to read a good novel without the boss seeing?

The New Zealand Book Council has launched a great viral advertising campaign that allows you to read literary works under the guise of "working" on PowerPoint presentations.

Check it out at readatwork.com.

Changes afoot...

...for thefountainside. stay tuned.

Jack Bauer Kills

A complete list. 185 in total.

Head above the clouds - at last.

When you learn foreign languages there are often periods of 'fogginess' as you get under way. During these times it's easy to feel as if the foreign language must be incredibly complicated, or that you are just plain stupid, or most commonly "this sucks and I'm never going to get it!"
The reality however, is that foreign languages are just that: foreign. And with enough exopsure and immersion, you can slowly come through the fog and above the clouds to see that it's not that complicated after all.
I haven't had too many struggles (yet) with learning Greek (a stack of pre-college work at the prompting of an MTS trainer with a lot of foresight to thank here!), but Hebrew has been another story. I've felt like most of the classes so far have been just another wave of confusion rolling over me, leaving me with more vocab, more paradigms and more concepts that I wasn't understanding. But about a month ago, I decided to bite the bullet and start chipping away at it all, forcing myself to memorise things (even if not understanding them), and just hope for the best.
This afternoon I had my first 'head above the clouds' moment. I got a whole stack of exercises right, and even translated a few sentences. It sounds pretty small, but these are the kind of moments you need to keep you going in language learning. Unfortunately they don't come unless you put in the hard hours first...

Hymns

I love singing hymns at church. Tonight we sang one of my favourites:

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

Food.

Sam often jokes he does a lot of washing up on weekends where I'm house-bound, as I like to cook on days in.

I'm not a fancy or accomplished cook, by any means. I take lots of short cuts and can never be bothered measuring anything properly, but I do enjoy the process of cooking, especially when its raining outside and there's something good on TV. I am looking forward to baking with my kids one day, if God blesses us with kidlets. I think that would be fun.

I also enjoy budgeting for our meals every week. I really enjoy working out which dishes to cook, what foods to buy, how I can make sure we get heaps of vegetables and fresh ingredients without having to buy overpriced "organic" stuff. Is that weird? I think I enjoy it because it reminds me of a logic puzzle, the kind with heaps of pieces you have to make fit together. I like that. There's something soothing about a grocery shopping list that comes under budget, yet provides nice meals. It's tidy and neat, so it makes me feel good.

This weekend I baked lemon and poppy-seed muffins, brownies and I have a shepherd's pie baking (we are unexpectedly home early from church!), waiting to be eaten.

Unstoppable Plodder?

Some people are unstoppable for Jesus. They approach ministry as if the world is a sinking ship that is going down tomorrow and their job is to throw out as many lifelines and get people into the life rafts in the next half hour.

There is a lot to like about these kinds of people. They are taking Jesus at his word when he says He is coming back as a thief in the night, and they are the innovators of our churches - trying new things, pushing the boundaries and toiling 'night and day'. They are growing big churches, mostly through seeing people outside Christ come to trust Jesus. Find a church that is doing anything (more than paying lip service) to reach the lost - generally one of these guys is at the helm.

Other people are careful plodders for Jesus. They approach ministry as if setting out on a long voyage; i.e. you can only set out after every bit of preparation has been taken care of, all the stores have been loaded up and the sailors on board has been trained for every possible scenario.

There is a lot to like about these kinds of people too. They display a genuine trust that it is God who saves people by the gospel, and they know all too well that they are simply 'clay pots'. They rarely get sucked into fads that sweep through the church. The believers in their pews are likely to stay with Christ their entire lives, and many of them will be so inspired by their captain that they'll (to stretch the metaphor way too far) follow in his footsteps and end up running their own ship. Find a church where the believers feel genuinely built up in their faith - generally a plodder is at the helm.

Both of these are caricatures obviously, but from what I've observed most people in ministry tend to lean one way or the other. It's rare to meet someone who has effectively 'straddled' both of these areas - an 'unstoppable plodder'.
I've experienced working alongside and in both models. While both are prone to blind-spots, I'm thankful to God for the diversity of experiences he's given me as I've trained in ministry. For me, I'm asking God that he'll open my eyes to my own weaknesses and strengthen me for service in ways that will see both the lost won for Christ, and the saints strengthened for his service.

Music from Highschool days

I've been buying a few tracks of iTunes with a voucher my sister gave me a while back. Mostly it's consisted of replacing tracks from a couple of CD's that were stolen from my first car, way back in the great heist of 2000. This was this mornings purchase: Harvey Danger's 'Flagpole sitta'.

Those were the days...

My Weekend

I've just finished rereading Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace. It's times like these I wish I was in a book club or back in English class at school. There are so many themes and ideas in this book, but I have no one to talk to about them!

Looking forward to the long weekend. I'm not doing much - just trying to get over this flu - so it will be nice to stay at home and read books, bake, finish my painting, watch DVDs.

I would like the rain more…

…if I could stay at home and didn’t have to go to work with a terrible cough and cold. I feel disgusting, like one of those sick and spluttery, germ-carrying people on the train you inch away from. I wish I could take a day off, but I have insane amount of work to do!

People who say they love the rain don’t have to catch the 8:21am all-stops from Summer Hill in it, or trudge through puddles in work clothes with creeping wetness in pants/heels, or leave office in darkness and shivering cold, or slip on platform and fall on large man with BO. (Though of course am thankful for rain - drought, farmers and all that).

Perhaps I'll be more appreciative after a well-deserved doona day tomorrow.

My favourite breakfast at the moment…

A big bowl of rolled Oats, sultanas, one cut up banana and skim milk (it has to be skim, or else it goes too creamy and gluggy).

Microwave on high for 2.3 minutes, just before the oats totally cook. Then mash up the banana and eat!

It’s also really good with sliced pears.

Map my Run

A cool site for runners. Over 3000 routes around Sydney, with stacks of info on each one. I'm going to give this one a go on friday arvo if the weather is okay, though I think I'll start from Carillon Ave in Newtown, rather than down at Johnston St. (h/t MW)

Xbox nite.

Video is up at the CIM site. Was a great night - thanks to the Toosehoose for the loan of some of the stuff to make it happen.

Running

I've turned from swimming to long distance running for my winter exercise. I enjoy running on crisp winter days, the cool air makes it possible to keep up a good pace without overheating, and the air in your lungs feels great. As a teenager I think I ran around every street in Carlingford, meaning I know the area pretty well. Now I'm starting to know a few of the back streets around the inner west pretty well too! Here's where I went today.

I like having a challenge of a destination to get to - today's was the iron-cove bridge. Any suggestions? An hour and a half is probably my max running time.

A great piece

Worth a read. Soph and I reckon this is the best Christian response to the recent Art vs Pornography debate that we've read. Some have been real disasters, but this is a carefully nuanced piece, full of grace, which takes a moral stance without throwing stones at the artistic community from the sidelines. (h/t ruth).