What is Faith?

I have been reading Hebrews lately and this morning i ran across this verse that was really powerful and was so simply stated... Ch11, Verse 1:Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
I feel like God had really helped me to grow spiritually this semester abroad and i am so thankful for that, as one of my irrational fears was that i would some how lose my level of faith,or maybe it was just being scared of the testing of my faith. In any case, quite the opposite has happened and though i have been tested it hasn't been in a negative sense, but only to enhance my faith more.

I Officially have finished my classes for the semester at JCU and all i have left is a final essay in which i plan on writing next week, an ecology final and a physics final which isn't till the 20th of NOV. which seems ages away. I don't want to say i wish my exams were over, because when they are over is when i will preparing to leave and im not quite ready to say goodbye yet. Soon it will be Halloween here, and though Australians don't really celebrate it, some of my friends are thowing steph and I a "halloween" party. So i am really looking forward to that as we are prob just going to eat candy, fish n chips and watch movies.
Saturday night we are going salsa dancing in the city which should be very entertaining, and depending on weather we might be going to Crystal Cascades, which i have sadly not had the chance to visit yet.

Tonight, is my "TV" night, we watch Glee, Rush and BurnNotice, back to back to back....but i justify it because thats the only tv i watch all week...Oh, besides the stuff i download because im missing in the States. Luckily, i've been able to stay caught up with the OFfice and House as well as Psych. hahaha....oh i suppose i should ask where my priorities lie. O well we all have our guilty pleasures, mine just happens to be comedic tv series...

I received a package from my parents today which took 2 whole weeks to get here! insane, but it finally arrived still intact. they sent some candy and Coffee! and Luna bars. yummy stuff...i jumped for joy when i found the slip of paper in my mailbox telling me it had arrived...it was like Christmas!
I talked to the ladies in the Office here and they said they are willing to buy my bike from me so they can rent to other students later on and i talked to the Student association at school and they agreed to buy back some text books, so i might be getting a little extra money which would be very nice!

Thats all for now, though im sure the next posts will include pictures from my future activities...Also, Timtams are officially being sold in the states and I HIGHLY recommend that you take advantage of their goodness while you can since they are only going to sold for a limited amount of time!
~Cheers!

Revelations

My uncle sent me some interesting text of which stemmed from some notes he took from a seminar he recently attended about Intelligent Design and natural vs spiritual revelations. Though it was rather deep to understand on my own, it was still quite interesting. Also, i thought it was interesting because this past friday at the bible study i attend here, we talked about revelations as well....maybe God is trying to tell me something?"


"Theology is properly distinguished as natural and revealed. The former is concerned with facts of nature so far as they reveal God and our relation to him, and the latter with the facts of Scripture."-Charles Hodge


I think today was one of those days where i wasn't necessarily homesick, but with planning all the details for my extended trek home, its hard not to think about getting back to my previous life with my family and friends. I have this last week of classes which i foresee flying by extremely fast as i have a lot of assignments due. then its just two exams and a paper and im home free...Literally i suppose.

It's really hard for me to be satisfied in the here and now when i know its temporary....which can be greatly seen in the smaller scale but when i think about it, my life on earth is only temporary compared to my heavenly life waiting before me....... which would explain why its hard sometimes to be satisfied with "this life". so many people are concerned about their purpose in life and I am blessed to known mine...yes, the details may not be clear as far as specifics of what job will i have, who will i marry, will i have any kids, but in reality, those things are all temporary too...As long as i am following God's will and glorifying Him in everything i do then i should feel content and know that this temporary life will not have been useless.....which is what i think God has intended for us.

Also, from my study of Colossians this semester, i came across this beautiful summary of verses: "Love unites all virtues into perfect unity"
So many people throw around the concept of "Love" and yes i know there are different forms of Love....but with each form the makings of love are all the same and i think most people including myself do not practice all the components that make up love. Tricky thing i know, and its something you wonder if you can ever master, but if we are desperately following God's word then it should not be such a challenge.....its the premise of this statement that is the real issue.

The Beginning of the End...

Life is a Vortex and it just sucks you in!

This week marked the beginning of my last month in Australia...so scary how fast time flies by. I mean it seems like yesterday was July and i was just arriving into this new place which i have come to love for its uniqueness and similarities. I only have one week left of classes and about 6 assignments to turn in before the "exam period" starts. I only have 2 exams during that time and they are ten days apart. so to kill some time i am taking advantage of the large "study" space between exams and am going to Maggie Island for a few days with a friend. I was lucky enough to catch a deal with the airline and get plane tickets for 48$ each way which is insanely cheap...i didnt think plane tickets could be that cheap!
Today, i booked all the hotels that my mom and I are going to stay at on our extended journey back to Greensboro. The treck includes 3days in Cairns, 4days in Sydney, and 4 days in Christ Church New Zealand.
I was really disappointed because i had found this Amazing bed and breakfast in the historic part of Sydney right next to the famous bridge and habour opera house and when i called to make the reservation this morning they were completely booked, which was crazy because two days earlier they had vacancies....o well i suppose it wasn't meant to be. To make up for it, we are going to stay at this really nice bed and breakfast in the city of Christ Church.
In Cairns i found a nice hotel right on the esplanade which will have a fantastic view. I love the fact that i could make a good decision on where to stay because i know the area so well by now.

My trek home is going to be exhausting! here's how its going to play out...leave christchurch at 6am dec. 3 ...fly to Auckland where there will be an 8hr layover, then off to LA, then to dallas, and finally to Greensboro at which i will arrive 11:30pm Dec. 3rd even though i will have been in the air for more than 24hrs....CRAZY

I've been asked several times recently, if i am ready to go home....that is a simple question with such a complex answer: YES and NO....yes because i miss my family and my friends and just "my real life" and no because i have made new friends and i know once i leave the probability that i will return is not extremely high though not impossible...as anything is possible.
I feel like i have been living a parallel life....my current life in australia and living it up, and trying to keep up in my absence back home. Having to almost be in two states of mind all the time is kinda draining and that would be why i am looking forward to going back home, but i will surely miss everything australian(Though may i mention-TIMTAMS are being sold at target! but only for short period of time as a trial )

Also, this week was epic because i was kindly given this web address in which linked to several 3rd party broadcasters. long story short, i was able to watch the office, and house and catch up on all the new episodes that i have missed out on being here. i know its sad, but it made me so happy to know that i have seen what others have been watching back home so i too may discuss them with people. :)

Ho-Hum...Diddly Dum

Well,..i'm sad to admit that i actually had to spend a weekend of my australia adventure doing school work...it was inevitable i suppose but i was trying to prolong it as much as i could! and unfortunately i think the next weekend will be the same as the end of my semester is approaching and i have 10 assignments/ exams in the next 2 weeks!

In other news, i have recently discovered a problem that i have. Once i get something on my mind (especially when im trying to go to sleep) i can not seem to move on from it until it has been figured out. For example, this has been the worst case of it so far... one night this past week i was talking to Kim, who is in london, and she started talking about classes for next semester. we still have a few weeks before registration even begins so i had not bothered with it yet. However, after we discussed several of the classes we need to take and the time conflicts she has already encountered, i could not stop thinking if i was going to be terrible behind next semester and to my ears in credit hrs. So, it had been going on about 12:30 at night and i still hadn't been able to fall asleep...so i just got up (wide awake) and pretty much worked out my entire schedule for next semester as well as figuring out where i was going to take some summer courses that i need....by the end of all that it was 3 am and i finally fell asleep with much accomplished!

anyways, i'm trying not to worry so much about things and leave it up to God, but it is so hard to just let things happen when i know that i could be working on them, whether it is greatly in advance.

Not too much else was very interesting about this week except that i had my last physics practical which made me happy because that meant i could discard of the shoes i had to wear for that class ...they were 5$ and they smelled really bad!! so it was a pleasure to chuck them into the rubbish bin! I'm in the process of ....well i can't remember because i just got a phone call which completely ruined my train of thought....o well, hahaha...

Apparently it's "octoberfest" in the city tonight and i was just invited to go with some friends, so i suppose this weekend isn't going to be all work and no play! Hooray!

Isla de Verde...green lsland!

So Nexus went to green island for the day and it was heaps of fun. we went snorkeling and being with some great locals friends, they were able to find all the cool stuff that im sure most tourists miss out on discovering. I actually got to swim with a sea turtle ...or follow it while it swam along :) we also saw this massive fish that i have no idea what it was called...but it was HUGE (no it was not a shark) and it was fun to watch that..from a distance. aside from snorkeling we sun-baked, and played footie at the water's edge. It was really hard for me to over come the urge to want to throw it forward like in american football, but in australian footie you have to throw it backwards or laterally. needless to say that caused a bit of hesitation on my part which then caused several tackles against me but it was all in good fun!
We went straight to church after getting back to Cairns, and i have to say i have never had such a hard time staying awake in church...The sun just sucks all the energy out of me and all i want to do sleep...just not in church :)
I'm still feeling extremely tired today, and even took a 2hr nap....hopefully i can recover quickly because school is about to get crazy with assignments being due and i need all the physical and mental energy i can get.

Pics from the Day: http://picasaweb.google.com/eaglchk/20091012GreenIsland?authkey=Gv1sRgCP-347nU1tbRVA#

"Just Smile and Say Stuff"

One thing that i absolutely love about my australian life is that many thing i do are spontaneous and have not been meticulously planned out. For instance, last night was friday and Steph and i had no plans to do anything special, which is kinda sad because we only have so many friday nights left in australia! Anyways, it was a chill day with bible study in the morning and a little bike ride to the grocery store and then later i got a txt from a friend from church inviting us to come over to hangout later that night. I was so excited to have something to do and with people that i have become very close to in the passed few months. There ended up being a lot of people from our church group there and in the australian way, they all brought some sort of drinks with them....now before my trip here i would have probably been completely judgmental about a group of young christians getting together for drinks but in australia that is not uncommon at all. they don't go over board and they are all legal here so it's really not that big of a deal whereas in the states it probably would be frowned on slightly. Anyways, we had fun joking around and hanging out until everyone decided that it was getting late and we departed....

On the funnier side, kevin, who is the guy who graciously gives us rides to church and other activities picked us both up but there was one too many people than seats, so one of the guys decided it would be heaps of fun to ride in the boot (trunk) and that's exactly what he did....i don't recommend it for long road trips, but it got us from point A to point B....he was so funny because he would request the volume to be turned up or the song to be changed from the boot, which made his voice really muffled....the whole ordeal just made me laugh.

Since it was a late night i was excited about getting a sleep in...but of course i woke up at 7:30am and peeked out my window to see what the weather looked like, as steph and i were planning to bike to the beach ...and it was cloudy so i went back to sleep. We ended up going to the beach anyway, and it was somewhat sunny.....as i now feel the sunburn on my back :) but really really windy. the sand was blowin every where so we just moved up to the grassy park area just before the beach. It made me feel like i was back at winthrop lake in the spring time.

So that has been my friday and saturday....no plans for tonight..so far...but tomorrow we are all going to Green Island so that should be heaps of fun....Im really keen to hangout with everyone from church again....and i want to take every opportunity to hangout with them since my time here is quickly coming to an end... :( They have already threatened to capture me so i can't leave....haha

"Satan is a failed Bible student...."

Its tuesday, and that means NEXUS! nexus is the young adults bible study that meets every tuesday night to fellowship and study various aspects of the Bible. Lately we have been going through the "3 S's" and this week the "S" was scripture. We broke up into groups and were given a long list of verses to read that explained what scripture was and we proceeded to discuss these as best we could.
Now, i fully understand what scripture is and why it is so important, but i fail like many other christians to read my Bible consistently. Its honestly quite sad and something that i am really ashamed of. Its so easy to just pick it up even for 15 min to read something that has been God breathed. But do i even do that?... most of the time i do not and instead fill my free time with facebook or emails and skype. Something hit me greatly in a verse that we read in Matthew when satan is trying to tempt Jesus and the sheet that we were working from pointed out that we can't be a better bible student than satan if we ourselves do not study the word.
The fact that satan knows the Bible and possibly more than me is really scary...satan knew the word and was able to twist for his own purposes which makes him a "poor bible student" but at the same time he had to know what the Bible said in order to twist it....im not sure i even have that depth of knowledge about the word....
How am i supposed to fight false preachings that are steered up by satan if i myself do not read the word for the real meaning. This was a concept that i've always heard and knew "to know the word because it is God's way of communicating to us and gives us knowledge about false teachings" but i don't think this other aspect has ever hit me before.
I'm going to try to make a much greater effort to read God's word even if its only just for 15min a day. I believe i am even going to have to only let myself onto facebook if i have done my Bible reading for the day...very childish i know, but i think this is a good starting place!

Surf Camp Aussie Style

Warning: This Will be a Lengthy Post.....

Link to Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/eaglchk/20091002AussieSurfCamp?authkey=Gv1sRgCMKW7pSL88P4Yw&feat=directlink

and
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/eaglchk/SurfCampAussieStyle02?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmmxPHxy_nhogE&feat=directlink

So, this past week was holiday for uni students and while many planned roads trips down the coast and in New Zealand, I decided that it would be pretty sweet to go surfing in australia. I did the necessary research and signed up for a surfing camp which happened to be 2-hrs south of sydney in a little town of Gerroa with a population of 500 people. It also happened to be located on 7-mile beach....which is a Fantastic beach..perfect for surfing....Not very populated at all, and long beach-breaking waves which equals ideal surfing for beginners (though i personally had surfed before in the states).

I had to pick up the bus for surf camp in sydney, so i flew down there the night before and had about 5 hrs to muck around and ended up going to see a movie.(potentially by myself) but i actually ran into a girl that i knew in the theater that lives in cairns, so i didn't have to watch the movie alone :) Sydney really shocked me...for a while i thought i was in Asia...there were so many oriental people EVERYWHERE, and they crossed the street "tokyo style" like you see in the movies where everyone goes everywhere....even shop employees were all oriental. Actually im not sure i actually talked to any australians while i was in sydney and then there was this weird guy who came up behind me suddenly and asked if he could smell my feet....That really freaked me out and i don't really want to go to sydney by myself again if i can help it.

So onto surf camp..i rode on the bus sitting next to a girl from sweden. It turned out that about a third of the camp was from sweden which was cool at first but then it got really annoying because they would all speak swedish and never any english so it was very hard to interact with them. Also, the group was 90% female so that always creates the "clicky" sort of environment. other countries represented were Switzerland, UK, Germany and the States...though it was just me and one other girl.The camp ran as follows: Get up, eat brekky, suit up into wetties, trek to the beach, grab a board, huddle into your groups, Surf for 2hrs, come back and rinse out the wetties, grab lunch, chill for a bit, back into the wetties, surf for 2 more hrs, come back and Race to the showers, Dinner, chill a little (mostly watching Surfing dvds, and looking at the days pics while playing Massive Jenga), Go to bed....Begin again...4 days straight
On the last day, we woke up at 5:30 am to surf the sunrise...though gorgeous, it was extremely cold and really hard to attain my balance that early :) i normally stumble my way to the bathroom let alone go surfing that early.

The weather was mostly fantastic! our first day it started out beautifully and then a storm came in which we surfed through and by the end, there was a double rainbow which was absolutely breath taking...you could see both ends. At nights it was really chilly and not intending on going somewhere cold while in australia, i had very limited clothing for such cold conditions...but i managed...it turned out that everything "warm" i had brought to wear was ALL winthrop/RUF attire....The instructors said i looked like the typical american uni student..."Go Eagles" :)

Speaking of instructors, they were all AWESOME and so funny....their names were: Chaplin/"chaps", Justin/"winnie" (those were my instructors), John-O, Chris-O, Jack-O, and Shane-O....i have no idea if their last names all started with O or not but thats what they called each other. There was alot of goofing off as i anticipated but it was all in good fun. It was crazy how much energy these guys had. They would get up early to go surfing come back, instruct us, go surfing while we ate lunch, and then instruct us again....I asked chaps if they ever get tired of it ...doing the same thing week in and week out...his response was the people do fizzle out and he hopes to leave before he looses his passion for it all but from what i gathered as long as you have the energy to put into it, then it never gets old....i think the instructors cycle out so that they work for several weeks and then get a few weeks off. I know i personally couldn't do it for a while season.

Actually, on that point i have to reflect a little...If some one was to ask me if i could have the surfers lifestyle and mentality i probably would have to decline the offer. As much as i loved surfing and hanging out while getting a taste for the "surfer lifestyle" i did not feel completely fulfilled. I started to question on the plane ride back to cairns why i wasn't ecstatic about the awesome adventure i just had and i came to this conclusion pretty quickly...
I went to surf camp by myself, not just me by myself but the lone christian...i wasn't expecting this to be like summer conference were we are all gathered and fellowshiping because we believe the same thing, but i also didn't really prepare myself for the lack of "common held belief".
Though im sure there are surfers out there that are christian...the stereotypical surfer: Surfs, Drinks, and Parties...and unfortunately these guys lived up to all that.
I don't want to say i felt a lack of God's presence because he was obviously there and surrounding me with His protection but i felt spiritually alone....this one instance sticks out very well in my mind...when i noticed the double rainbow and all its beauty, i wasn't able to share in the symbolism of God's promise with anyone else. when i pointed it out to people they hardly took notice and kinda waved me off.
So while i had a fantastic time surfing and experiencing yet another side of australian culture, i would have to say i was amist a very worldly environment in which i had no christian outlet but to go off on my own to take pictures of God's beautiful creation. So, sadly it was rather draining in a spiritual sense because i did not have fellow believers in my presence. And unfortunately, i feel sort of guilty for not being more open about my faith and what i believe. I could have spoken up many times but instead just was silent for fear of potentially being harassed or left out even more than i was by coming as an "independent"...I just hope that i left some sort of impact by the way i acted and what i said. I think this was a very eye opening experience in letting me realize how much more i need to have faith in God and become more confident in speaking in His name without fear of what the consequence maybe........I just can't help but think about this perfect opportunity to witness and i wasted it because i was scared and was afraid of what others would think of me. All i can do is pray for God's strength in me to not be ashamed the next time an opportunity arises to speak openly of my faith.

On a lighter note, I love to surf, if i could take that activity and put a christian twist on it then it would be perfect! there's nothing like catching the perfect wave and riding it all the way until you can't go anymore.
Uni starts again on monday, and October is going to be a crazy month! i can't believe i only have 2more months left in australia....its amazing how fast time flies!