Day off

Here's a few pictures of my day out on Saturday. A small group of us spent the day in Sydney doing some sightseeing and basically just spending some time together away from church and school - a much needed break even though school and church are great.




Yes, I got to see this world-famous site. From pictures I've seen in the past, I thought it was a few stories tall. WRONG buy about 10 stories. This thing is masive. There's a few of us thinking of going to see a show (A symphany or something since my current music taste says I wouldn't go see an oprah unless I was paid to do it) here sometime and seeing the inside then since we didn't get inside today. For those who don't know; this is the Sydney Operah House. It is truly an incredible building.









One tall bridge - it's about 130 meters (over 400 feet) high and people regularly climb up the side. I'm not sure it's worth the $100 cost but would love to climb it.






I won!








A shot of what I saw underwater.








Some friends (mostly fellow Canadians) that I spent the day with.








A walkway at night in a park in downtown Sydney

Update

I guess it's been a while since I've put anything on here. It's been a good time though. I'm still looking for a car but have now bought a guitar. I was able to buy a new Canadian made guitar with slight damage (basically cosmetic) for 65% off the retail price. The salesman I dealt with plays for Hillsong United and tours around the world with them. He made an effort to lower the price for the guitar and accessories I bought because I’m a student at Hillsong. Most of the students here have been going to him to buy their instruments. I had a class the evening that I bought the guitar so I had to head home late afternoon. Well as it turned out, the bus came late and got back to my appartment 45 minutes late so instead of going home for a quick supper, I had to literally run to the shuttle bus that takes us from the Appartment to school and the only reason I managed to catch that bus was that it left a bit late too. So, since I had the guitar with me and was suffering withdrawal from not playing for a month, I took it out and played some old songs. It was only students and the driver on the bus so that was ok. Earlier in the afternoon I had some spare time while waiting for someone in the group I went shopping with so one of the other guys (who also really missed playing) and I took out our guitars and played on the side of the street.

I’ve been invited to about 7 different small groups and had to turn most of them down. I have met once with two of them and will likely continue with both.

I also had a chance to do some tourism on Saturday and really enjoyed that. It was so good to get away from the everyday life and see some of the things tourists come here for. The forecast was for a hot day but it was actually just a very comortable 30 degrees or so with sunshine and a slight breeze. I’m planning to put up another post with some pictures from the day.

note to corinnadominy

I saw your comment and question on the site so just to respond... There is more detail in the other entries I've made but the short version is that I'm studying pastoral counselling at the Hillsong International Leadership College; an extension of the Hillsong Church that produces much of the worship music used in churches throughout the world. I've just started a two year program here and will likely be entering full time ministry after that. You are right that I believe in God. There is nothing more important in life than that belief and the beliefs, thoughts, and actions that stem from it. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is the greatest commandment." Mark 12:30. If I obey this command, everything else will line up as well.

Words from God

I thought the title may catch a few eyes...

I'm looking for the opportunities to share what God has done in my life and to speak into other people's lives. As part of this, I'm also waiting for opportunities to do this in front of groups of people. So, I thought it would be appropriate for me to join the speakers club (kind of similar to Toastmasters in Canada but focusing on church related speaking instead of business or general public speaking) to work on improving my public speaking. Well, I went to my first meeting this week and was given the opportunity to share a bit in front of the group. There were about 20-30 people there and apparently God used what I said to touch many of them. Over the next hour as the meeting continued, one person after another spoke up with words of encouragement, many of them believing the Holy Spirit was telling them what to say. It was an incredibly humbling yet encouraging experience as many of these people had never met me before and spoke directly to things in my life that they could not possibly have known. I’m looking forward to more opportunities like this.

I’ve now finished my first week of classes and have found all them then very interesting; even the Doctrine and Church History classes are interesting and practical. I’m really enjoying it all and look forward to even more. During the week we also had a “small” two night conference on God’s grace and favor; for which our building was filled with over 4,000 people. It’s quite amazing to be a part of; whether serving or sitting in the audience (I did both at different times during the conference)

One of the things I've wondered about since the day I got here was "Why do the crosswalk signs only show the legs?" Having finally figured it out, I decided to take a picture and post it with the answer. It's because the rest of the pedestrian was removed by the car in front of you.

2nd 30th birthday on Sunday

I guess certain people who thought it important only found out today that it was my birthday on Friday. Before the evening service, one of the guys came up to me and said he had been hearing lots about me and also wished me a happy birthday. I’m left to wonder if the birthday is all he had heard or if there is something else too…a couple more people wished me happy birthday throughout the evening and then on the bus when we were about to leave church, they sang for me and wanted me to say something. After a 30 second impromptu “best is yet to come” speech, they asked for a joke so I gave one of those too. This just made my day – if it hadn’t already been made (see more later if I remember to write it). Then to top it off, one of the couples here invited me over for a later supper so I joined a couple of other students in going to their place and spending the evening. They made sure I had another birthday cake and a good evening. While I was there some girls came around asking where I lived so since I was there, I met them at the door. They brought me a card that many of the students had signed. It really touched me in a good way. There were some comments in there indicating that I’ve had an impact on people out here. I don’t understand it and I feel like I’ve been here so short a time and have done so little, but apparently God is doing something through me already. For this, I can only thank Him and pray that He continually helps me to let Him shine through me.

Response to some comments left for me

Pictures of me on my birthday…
I was too busy having fun to take pictures of myself on my birthday. A couple of the ladies here found out it was my birthday so they took me out for a milkshake immediately after class. Now I figure most of the guys here would be jealous if they found out about this because they can’t even get one girl out to a restaurant and I had two – taking me!!! OK, maybe the guys could do it but just haven’t tried… In the evening, I went to someone’s home and since the host found out about the big day, there was ice cream, chocolate cake, candles, and the famous song. I had a great evening and got home late. Although I’m not with family and I’m away from my friends back home, I’m meeting a ton of great people and starting to develop some good friendships. These people made sure I had a great day! Since I don’t have any pictures of me on the day, I’ll just tell you with a sudden shift of appearance I’m looking younger all the time. Although I’ve spent the last 15 years of my life being told I look older than I actually am (which can be incredibly painful and destructive to someone as insecure as me), I’ve had two people tell me in the last two days that I don’t look as old as I am. I told one of them I had shaved that morning and that probably made the difference - she didn't buy the reasoning.

Australian tax system…
I have not yet taken the time to enjoy learning the system out here but this much I can tell you…This country has something right that the rest of the highly taxed world should learn from. When an item says $5.95, that’s what you pay, there’s no such thing as looking at the price then wondering what $5.95 plus 13%, 14%, or 6% (depending which Canadian province you’re in) is. Tax is included in the price. I also know that if I get a tax file number, I’m better off having money in a savings account here because the interest rate is higher; but if I don’t have a tax file number, they with-hold about 45% of the interest for tax and I’m then better off keeping the money in Canada

Does the water spin the other way…
Before I left Canada, I spent a lot of time and used a lot of water repeating a highly scientific experiment to determine which way water spins when it drains so I could do a proper comparison. My results showed that it spins counter clockwise about 65% of the time. Based on the laws of statistics, that’s not enough to conclude beyond reasonable doubt which way it spins, but for the average person it’s good enough. Last night I did another highly scientific experiment. Sydney has been in a dry season for a while now so I can’t use a lot of water doing this but I had done dishes and had water in the sink to I watched as it drained and took note of which way it spun. I achieved the same result 100% of the time I watched water drain in a sink and can conclude that it does in fact drain clockwise – exactly opposite of the direction it drains in Canada. In case anyone is wondering, I did try this with the toilet in the airplane somewhere near the equator but was unable to produce any real results. I came to the conclusion that when you flush a toilet over the ocean, it just opens a hatch to the outside of the plane and anything in the toilet is sucked out at 600 miles per hour…Be careful next time you’re taking a canoe across the ocean, there could be some nasty stuff coming out of the airplane above :-)

Here's the new building which seats 3,500 people and is completely full on Sunday nights. It's set up in a great way so the sanctuary can be partitioned to create classrooms for college and evening courses. The building is being used for something all day every day of the week. Plans are underway for a similar building in another part of Sydney (called the City campus) where a separate group of people has been meeting for the last number of years. The new building is needed quite urgently as the city campus currently is holding 7 services per weekend and they are trying to find a way to fit in number 8.

The "Old" church building completed less than 10 years ago which holds up to 1,500 people in the sanctuary along with office space and some other areas mostly used for children's ministry. The church moved into this building on the same day that construction was finished. The painters were actually finishing their work during the first service on a Saturday night. The church had hardly started using the building when they realized the need for a bigger one.

This is a poor quality image but it's part of the room during our chapel time

Just for the people who think Australia is always hot, here's proof that they also know what snow is all about

I think we all know the type of person who is constantly tapping their hands on something – drumming on their legs (or yours) or the wall, the floor, the chair in front of them, or whatever else may be within reach. Many of us also know the type of person who sings the same song over 50 times in a day. Actually, someone reading this may actually be one of these types of people. One sign that this may be you is that you have no idea what I’m talking about. For the rest of you, imaging going to a school where 800 of the students are there to study music of some sort. By nature, this means there will be a lot of people as described above. Interesting scenario when you have these kinds of people living beside, above, and below you.

OK, it’s really not that bad, but I thought of this the other day when I was riding the bus and someone was busily tapping out a beat on the floor and on my seat. It was almost as if I was the drum set since the seat did not absorb much of the blow.

Aaah life is great. Just to realize there are 800 people in my area studying to be better able to lead others into God’s presence is amazing.

Brian Houston, Allan Meyer, Christine Cain, Darlene Zchech, Joel Houston; just the start of a list of people that have spoken in some form in the last two days. It’s been a privilege to hear from these people as each one of them has great insights into ministry and has done phenomenal things in it…And I’m told the best is yet to come. I was again amazed this morning as we had a chapel time and I was hardly able to hear my own voice singing because there were so many others singing praises and worshipping God passionately. It is truly a great time.