Title? I really cbb...

A friend of mine introduced to me a brilliant new acronym: 'cbb', meaning 'can't be bothered'. And the beauty of this little expression lies in it's overwhelming irony. Not only can you not be bothered to do whatever it is you are referring to, you also can't be bothered to type properly! Not merely content with being lazy in one area, you put the icing on the preverbial cake with the extra laziness of a dorky acronym! You're just absolutely not bothered and now the whole world has first hand proof! Quite frankly, I'm impressed.

..92 days

a little bit of arson...

burning an element of the HSC was strangely satisfying..94 days and counting..

a sinless fortress

as a recent event leaves me feeling angry and hurt, i am once again brought face to face with the reality of my pride. i so arrogantly believe that i have been wronged that wallowing in self pity seems like a justified action for me to take. i am able to push out of my mind all the times i have disobeyed God and caused pain to others, in order to focus on this one instance where my self-righteous feelings have been hurt. i crave for justice in this matter and foolishly forget about the much bigger justice that i deserve that has been graciously fulfilled in Jesus. How proud am i to be bitter in this one instance where i believe i am in the right and yet expect forgiveness for the multitude of times when i am wrong? 

so today, my prayer is that God will replace my proud and bitter heart with a humble and forgiving one. the conflict and failings we have as sinful humans are a stark contrast to the unchanging perfection of our great God. let us praise him for continuing to be good, when we so definately aren't.

i read psalm 59 this morning, and am reminded of what my attitude should be. 
 16 But I will sing of your strength,  
  in the morning I will sing of your love;  
  for you are my fortress,  
  my refuge in times of trouble.  

 17 O my Strength, I sing praise to you;  
  you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God.

how reassuring that we serve a God who is strong, steadfast and unchanging :) jen out

quick hello

howdy

once again i apologise for the scarcity of blog posts. holidays are not really holidays when you have a massive food tec assignment to conquer and an accompanying cold. but God is still good, even in my weakness and frustration.

exciting things have happened! 

Calvin Andrew Mckay was born on friday at 4pm. Cathy and Steve were very generous in sharing their day-old baby with us. holding him was pretty magical :) pics on cathy's blog 

i visited a friend's church last night. its massively encouraging to meet a new group of people that have experienced the same grace and serve the same God that i do. 

more blogging-ness coming soon. until then, over and out. 

just a bit excited...

a favourite novel. a favourite actor. what more could one want in a film, really?

knowledge is power

go away. i dont want to blog about this, its too hard. trying to write something profound. its not working. damn profundity. all i really want to say is that going to uni open day was good. but a little sad. so many people seeking greatness. so many opportunities for self glorification. the world doesn't change, you leave behind years of highschool where you are pushed to be as successful and important as you can be and enter a new environment where you continue motivated to strive for distinction. we are so far from a species that wants to bring God glory or make him happy. we want to glorify ourselves and make ourselves happy. don't get me wrong, i think education is great, but today reminded me that even learning has been unaviodably tainted by sin. stoked about uni. but taken off my rose-coloured spectacles. the end. 

a little chilly..

taking a short break from biology to make a few points:

1. It. Is. Really. Cold. i know you didn't need me to tell you this (unless you live in the northern hemisphere where it is currently summer...grrrr). but yes, i thought i'd just make a mention of the icy weather. i visited the BOM this morning as i usually do, and promptly added 2 extra layers of clothing. 16 degrees maximum is not my friend.

2. Went to the movies last week and put aside my donation money. thought you may like to know that, so far, i'm sticking to my resolution. 

3. the Mckays should have a new baby by the end of the week. praying for a safe delivery and another really cool name. Check our Cathy's blog, its marvellous.  http://bestbookco-op.blogspot.com/ 

4. i have started using the word marvellous. the sign-on lady in the office was very impressed.

back to work now. hope your having a marvellous day :)

meaningless, meaningless

firstly, i apologise that it's been so long. schoolwork and the birthdays of important people have trumped the typing of vaguely interesting observations this past week. but as you can see i've made a return and am enjoying getting my blog on. so here goes..

two unrelated references to Ecclesiastes this morning prompted me to start reading it. the Teacher has devoted himself to studying the world and has come to the conclusion that everything is meaningless "I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are vanity, a chasing after the wind". In a stage of life where my occupation largely consists of memorising useless slabs of information in order to write them all down frantically in 3 hour instalments of October, I heartily agree with the Teacher here. 

For Solomon (who we assume to be the 'Teacher' in Ecclesiastes), all his great wisdom seems to have fallen into ruin. he can see no purpose or meaning in the passing of time and the activities of humanity. and i am tempted to despair that someone so wise can be so greived by the pointlessness of the world. what hope have I of ever growing in wisdom when it appears to end in sorrow? 

i think the biggest problem we have is that when we ask God for wisdom, we expect him to show us the reason behind the madness of the world. we think that being wise means understanding the intricate nature of life and seeing meaning in the cheapness and nastiness of it. but as Ecclesiastes shows us, even a man that God blessed with great wisdom failed to see purpose in the inexplicable things of life. does this mean that the teacher failed to remain wise? does it mean that we fail to attain wisdom?

we need to change our ideas about what wisdom is. God doesn't promise to make everything clear to us. our brains are midget, we are finite, so how can we expect to understand the workings of life? Romans 11:33-34 "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor?" We are totally unable to gain this type of understanding and this is a humbling fact. our bewilderment teaches us to trust God, live by faith and not become proud in our feeble understanding of the world. 

Solomon tells us in the final verses of Ecclesiastes, what wisdom is.                                                  13 Now all has been heard; 
  here is the conclusion of the matter: 
  Fear God and keep his commandments, 
  for this is the whole duty of man. 

 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, 
  including every hidden thing, 
  whether it is good or evil.

Wisdom is knowing that the world is full of meaningless things like highschool, or lonliness or the death of a baby, but trusting and obeying God anyway because we know he is ultimately in control. this makes us more humble, more joyful and more ready to serve Jesus. in the words of J.I. Packer "let us see to it then, that our own quest for wisdom takes the form of a quest for these things, and that we do not frustrate the wise purpose of God by neglecting faith and faithfulness in order to pursue a kind of knowledge which in this world it is not given to us to have."

thats all for today, folks. will be blogging more this week as all assessments for the term are complete. huzzah! until then, grace to you all :)