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I'm a Ferrari 360 Modena!

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new beginnings and near death experiences

After sitting through 5 1/2 hours worth of 'disclipine' talks at uni (!!) over the past couple of days (it doesn't sound like much, but boy did it feel it) I'm choccas full of course info, and the whole full time study at uni thing is all seeming a lot more real. I'm so glad I'm doing a Bachelor of Arts because at the moment I just want to study it all and don't want to limit it down- there's so much choice and flexibility and I figure, why not study this stuff now when I can? The main subjects I've been planning on doing are Classics (surprise, huh?), Philosophy, Psychology, and Anthropology, but now I'm toying with the idea of Ancient Greek or Latin, History, or maybe even music! Ah, the possibilities are almost endless. I've been seeing so many people I know as well - from high school, and primary which is like a wierd time warp thing but cool!

What's this about near death experiences you ask? WELL I have a bit of a freaky story of my own to tell (you may of already heard it, but read on anyway so I can get maximum mileage out of the story :P)... On Sunday we had a youth leaders training day thing up at Greg and Sum's in Blackwood. That's it. Freaky huh? Just joking (I think i've been sitting in too many info sessions...)! Incidentally I had a great time at it, I'm really looking forward to youth leading this year - it felt like there was a really good energy in the group, and I came home all hyped up and inspired, particularly talking about how character and servanthood is so important in leadership. Anyway, so I drove Anne home, down Old Belair road, think masses of windy bends, huge cliff drops on either side of the road, that sort of thing. I dropped off Anne, and went through a couple of intersections and pulled into the driveway and THE STEERING WENT - the engine started chugging really strangely (I thought it was just part of the song on JJJ at first) and it felt like if I turned the wheel anymore something would just SNAP. What had happened was that the steering belt (I apologise about my terminology to all those car buffs out there) thingy had come off some cog things, but the main thing was that if it had happened just 30 secs earlier I could've been turning on the intersection or something, freaky! I was just overwhelmed that, wow, God was watching over me :D

ps up there's a "random" picture I took of my cousin Michael when we were in Syd earlier in Jan (we had a bit of a photoshoot session along the beaches...) - talk about timing! (don't worry he didn't actually fall over, and his nice camera was safe :P)

Casting Crowns

My fabulous Aunty Leone, Uncle Stephen and superstar(tm) cousin Michael gave me the latest Casting Crowns cd Lifesong for my birthday and I had the chance to listen to it and read some of the words some more today (bit hard to read them in the car with the whole car-sickness thing). It's really cool, they write a brief explanation and accompanying verses with the words of each song which puts it in context and gives it more meaning.

Love Them Like Jesus

The love of her life is drifting away
They're losing the fight for another day
The life that she's known is falling apart
A fatherless home, a child's broken heart

You're holding her hand, you're straining for words
You're trying to make sense of it all
She's desperate for hope, darkness clouding her view
She's looking to you

Just love her like Jesus, carry her to Him
His yoke is easy, His burden is light
You don't need the answers to all of life's questions
Just know that He loves her and stay by her side
And love her like Jesus
Love her like Jesus

The gifts lie in wait, in a room painted blue
A little blessing from Heaven would be there soon
Hope fades in the night, blue skies turn to gray
As the little one slips away

You're holding their hand, you're straining for words
You're trying to make sense of it all
They're desperate for hope, darkness clouding their view
They're looking to you

Just love them like Jesus, carry them to Him
His yoke is easy, His burden is light
You don't need the answers to all of life's questions
Just know that He loves them and stay by their side
And love them like Jesus

The Lord of all creation holds our lives in His hands
The God of all the nations holds our lives in His hands
The Rock of our salvation holds our lives in His hands
He cares for them just as He cares for you

So love them like Jesus, love them like Jesus
You don't need the answers to all of life's questions
Just know that He loves them and stay by their side
And love them like Jesus
Love them like Jesus
Love them like Jesus

This one was 'follows the account in Matthew of the man full of demons... until he met Jesus.' I looked up the verses (Mark 5:1-13, Eph 2:1-10, Romans 8, Revelation 1:18) and what really struck me was just the difference in peoples lives before and after Jesus. I guess as I get older that makes more sense and I can see that in my own and other people's lives more.

Set Me Free

It hasn't always been this way
I remember brighter days
Before the dark ones came
Stole my mind
Wrapped my soul in chains

Now I live among the dead
Fighting voices in my head
Hoping someone hears me crying in the night
And carries me away

Set me free of the chains holding me
Is anybody out there hearing me?
Set me free

Morning breaks another day
Finds me crying in the rain
All alone with my demons I am
Who is this man that comes my way?
The dark ones shriek
They scream His name
Is this the One they say will set the captive free?
Jesus, rescue me

CHORUS

As the God man passes by
He looks straight through my eyes
And darkness cannot hide

Do you want to be free?
Lift your chains
I hold the key
All power on Heav'n and Earth belong to Me
(repeat)

You are free
You are free
You are free

time flys...

when you're having fun! Well at least that's one of my excuses for it being over a month since I last posted. That and being interstate and then with lack of computer/technology for 5 days. As always after holidays there's so much that I could write about that's been happening, but if I wrote about all of it then ... it'll be mega long (or should that be meg meg long...) Let's just see where this goes then hey?

This morning I/we (being lisa, sez, stef, em, dave, law, G, phil, nic and alex) got back from our splendiferous and much anticipated camping trip at Second Valley. At the moment I'm sunburnt in many places, including my lips which is really painful and annoying (any ideas on remedies?), and just slept for 5 hours and am still tired, but it was way worth it. I love camping - time kind of happens without you realising it. It was so cool just to chill out with everyone and live together for a few days (even grumpy moods are bonding experiences ;) swimming, snorkelling (soo good down there - cuttlefish, jellyfish, star fish, big fish, small fish, creepy seaweed, squid and no sharks or blue ringed octopus!), exploring, walking over rocks trying not to knacker your feet, finding warm rock pools, watching sun sets, talking, play-grounding, making up wierd and wonderful words and stories, eatting (not only did we not die of starvation or over consumption of 2 min noodles, we ate darn well! bbq, spag bog, butter chicken, f&c mm mmm), climbing hills (and almost getting blown off), meeting fellow camp-site-iers and their dogs, sun burn and Phil's heaven sent Iced Tea relieving spray, photos (does it even need to be said? it's a given!), marrying inanimate objects ('if the sky was a man i'd marry it!' (dw dave, lol)), cliff jumping (well i wasn't there - went to Glacier Rock (must see destination *cough* lol), Granite Island and King's beach with Phil, Lisa and Lexi - but it sounded cool and I wish I could've done that as well!), singing in the car, and being out of touch with the outside world... AWESOME, love it! It was really good staying in Emma's caravan/camper thing (thanks Em!)- haha just like last year the guys had the coverless tent (which actually would've been kind of cool, even if everyone in the campsite could see in BB style) and the girls were living in the comparative lap of luxury - it did get pretty crowded/cosy last night when the "storm" was supposed to be coming thru and the guys squished in too :P

BEFORE the camping trip I went to Sydney for two weeks with the family which was a really great time as well (they just keep on rolling!). I'll go with my highlights/listing mood - we had Uncle Stephen's 50th on the 1st which began with the new years fireworks on the harbour - we ended up (after trialing many locations and being ushered to better ones :P) under the bridge on the right and it was amazing - I haven't done that since I was a kid, and it was so beautiful, especially when at the end there were those showery fireworks going of literally right above our heads on the bridge. Seeing all the Aunt's, Uncle's and cousins (more of whom than I realised read this, better watch what I write! jk ;) was probably the biggest highlight (and no I'm not just saying that because you guys read this). I feel so grateful to have a family who's I get along so well with, and who are strong Christians - it was a partic encouraging time that wise in terms of having a bit of a reevaluation of my faith actually. Wish we could spend more time hanging out with them - actually now I will, I'm going over for Susie's 21st on April 1st (I've been assured there actually is a party and it's not just an April Fools jk, haha!) , woo! Michael and I literally took hundreds of photo's so there's no shortage of visual aide to assist remembering the trip! Gotta love those photoshoots on the beach. Oh, and there were ACTUAL WAVES at the beaches which took a bit of getting used to compared to most of our South Aussie ripples. Just to salute the trip in an appropriately celebratory manner my cousin Jennifer and her husband Kirk had their second baby - welcome to the world Emily Eileen Barker (not Parker Barker as we had suggested unfortunately)! Go the middle-name-Eileen club!
On the way home we stayed with my Aunty Caroline and her partner Lynne at Blackdown estate in Bathurst that they're busy running at the moment which was gorgeous - looked like it had jumped off the pages of Country Style, and with the whole farm thing I felt like I was on McLeod's Daughters, v cool and a relaxing way to end the trip.

SO that's prob missed out a lot of stuff, but you get the gist. I'll get some photos up here soon!