1 histoire: Rencontrer Jésus (et 1 photo)

A little story for people who like such things.
Theme: "Meeting Jesus".

Transcript from sharing on Sun. 24/03/19 at St. Andrew's Cathedral 10:30 service.
{Thanks to Ruth S. who encouraged me to do it, and to my Christian sisters (women of the Wednesday morning Bible study) for their feedback.}

Photo: My Christian grandmother, pictured with her future sister-in-law.

I’ll start by saying where I am from, because there is always someone who wants to ask..
I was born here in Sydney.
My father was also born here.
But my family is from China,
- and it is because of them that my story of meeting Jesus actually starts more than 100 years before I was born.

Way back in the 1870s, God sent Christians from England into south China as teachers, doctors, hospital workers and ministers. These British Christians learned Chinese languages and told unsaved Chinese villagers and townspeople about Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Many southern Chinese people met Jesus in China, and believed in Him. And one such woman was my great-great-grandma.

Great-great grandma was one of the first Christians in my family, and by the time my grandfather and grandmother were teenagers, they went to Christian schools in their town. Today that town is called Shantou (older Chinese people would have called it Swatow). From what I know, as the Bible was taught at their school and churches, my grandfather and grandmother met Jesus too, and they followed Him.

And when they married and moved here, to Sydney, in the 1930s, and when they had two boys and a girl, they introduced their children to Jesus - my father, my uncle and my auntie. So then, I met Jesus through my own father and mother, who taught me the Bible and took me to a Bible-teaching church in Milsons Point. Even as a very little girl, I could sing lines like this from Christian songs:

My sins are all forgiven,
I’m on my way to heaven..

By the time I was seven, I knew God was real. I never doubted what Jesus had done. He died on the cross to save us, and my sins were all forgiven. Jesus had risen from the dead and I knew I could have eternal life in heaven..

But as I grew I didn’t always trust the goodness of God. Because when I was eleven we learned my father had cheated on my mother. He had a girlfriend and a new baby. My Christian father - who had first introduced me to Jesus. As a result, we saw how hurtful sin could be, in my father’s actions. Yet around the same time this happened, I was challenged at school and church camp to trust Jesus myself - more than just accepting what I’d been taught.

Meeting Jesus in a fresh way at age twelve was a whole new ball game from when I was little. I was in high school, and - like many teenagers - what I found most hard was wanting to make friends and be accepted. Yes, I had accepted Jesus - but, like your average teenage girl, I wanted to be with people my own age as well. So knowing Jesus in high school was just like having a friend who’s always there, a friend who always accepts you. But you just take Him for granted.

In God’s kindness, after disappointments in my last year of school and first year at university, I realised I needed to know Jesus better. He’d been with me all my life, as long as I could remember. But in most of that time I’d never really read God’s Word for myself. I actually think I only started growing as a Christian when I started reading the Bible properly at age nineteen. It was like taking my friendship with Jesus to the next level, as I met Him again and again through my Bible reading. I got to know God through His Word and to see for the first time how He’d worked through Bible history from creation up until now.

And then, only 10 years ago, God opened a door for me to go overseas and meet Jesus in another new way. For the first time I realised fully what He wanted to do in His world, and how He might want me to play a part. I’d given and prayed for people in Europe before, that they might meet Jesus. But it was only when I went to France in 2009 that I understood how blessed we are to live in Sydney with many churches that teach the Bible well, and that help people meet Jesus. I was a French speaker hanging out with French Christian students and I saw the reality of how hard it was to introduce French people to Jesus. How little confidence French Christians had in using the Bible to share about Jesus.

Since seeing what I saw in France I’ve been challenged to help whoever I can, wherever I can, in the task of introducing people to Jesus. And for me, having met and re-met Jesus at many times in life, I don’t think there is anything more important than knowing Him, or growing in Him, or telling others about Him.

If Christians from England had never introduced my Chinese ancestors to Jesus, they might not ever have met Him. And so, nearly 150 years after those British Christians took the good news of Jesus into south China, I want to keep asking the questions:
Who else does God want me to introduce to Jesus?
Who could I help meet Jesus?
________________

L/T.

2 amis; moins de 35 équipiers (un jeu de nombres)

{En. = 2 friends; less than 35 staff team workers (a numbers game)}

Come and play a numbers game with me!
________________

Today I shall endeavour briefly [hah!] to introduce you to 2 of my friends, Isabelle V. and Yuya S.

Isabelle is a French staff worker with Groupes Bibliques Universitaires (GBU) in France.
Yuya is a Japanese staff worker with Kirisutosha Gakusei Kai (KGK) in Japan.

GBU and KGK, for those who don't know, are the IFES national student groups for the 2 countries noted above; the closest equivalent to each - where I live - is the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical students, or AFES.

Isabelle lives in France.
She is one of between 30 and 35 GBU staff workers in her country.
That means no more than 35 French-speaking Christian staff workers nationwide
- for a population of 65 million.
In effect, for France's 65m people
there are up to 35 national staff able to be engaged in GBU student work.
(And some of those staff workers, to my knowledge, are not even funded to serve the GBU full-time.)

Yuya lives in Japan.
He is one of about 35 KGK staff workers across the country.
So, 35 Japanese-speaking Christian staff workers nationwide
- for a population of 126 million.
That means, for Japan's 126m people
there are (just as in France) only 35 national staff able to be engaged in KGK student work.

Does that sound like it's spreading the student work out a bit thin?
I think so.

When I look at Australia, when I narrow it right down to Sydney (where I went to university), I think it seems a bit unfair, actually...

~

Before continuing this post I paused to compile a quick list of all the people I could think of who are currently AFES staff workers in the Sydney metro area, including those from EU (Sydney Uni.), CBS and FOCUS (UNSW), ECU (Cumberland campus at Lidcombe) and CU and FOCUS at Macquarie. I recalled and wrote down 15 current staff workers just in the first fifteen minutes. One CBS worker - whom I consulted the same day I was drafting this - reckoned there were at least 9 others on his staff team at UNSW alone; add those 9 CBS workers in, and it totals 24. Moreover, those 24 Australian-based staff workers are NOT the only 24 in Sydney, nowhere near it! If you joined in and helped me, we'd come up with a list of over 35 student workers quite easily, just for Sydney alone, and we'd still be counting...

The point of what I am saying is this:
Right now in the city of Sydney alone there are well over 35 AFES staff workers.

35(plus!) staff for Sydney's population of less than 5 million.

In effect, that means more than 35 staff just for ONE. Single. Australian. CITY.
________________

We are a gospel-rich city, and country, generally. Even if we had only those 35 AFES staff workers for our whole population of 24 million Australians, we'd still be far better resourced than GBU France or KGK Japan. After all, we have only half of France's 65-million population and only one-fifth of Japan's 126-million.

And yet I hope it's clear here that there are more AFES workers based in Sydney alone than the total 35 national French or Japanese staff currently serving with GBU in France or KGK in Japan.

I wish you could feel the disparity I've tried to highlight above.
Isabelle in France and Yuya in Japan each represent a situation so very poorly resourced when I compare it with the AFES movement in Australia.

To me it's unjust, that in just one Aussie city (pop. 5m.) we have so many AFES workers serving campus Christian groups full-time
- whilst overseas in France (pop. 65m.) and in Japan (pop. 126m.),
GBU and KGK respectively have no more than 35 staff workers - apiece! - currently serving in their national teams.

These are situations that break my heart.
And they need our prayers
- that the Lord of the harvest send out workers into His harvest field, outside of Australia.
And maybe, they also need some of us to rethink.


Where might the Lord of the harvest use us, if we are willing & able to leave here, and go to the lands God will show us..?

If, at this time, God has disabled us from going ourselves,
how can we be sharing what we have with our French, Japanese and other international gospel partners to see God's salvation reach to the ends of the earth?

L/T.
~

40+ heures dans le désert (2me partie)

In my last blog post, O Theophilus - I mean, O Reader - I talked about one kind of desert, the genuine hot, dry and pretty much waterless version. A hard place for anything to grow or thrive without significant divine intervention. But that was only 1 of the 2 deserts I visited during my week overseas in September. After leaving the United Arab Emirates, it was time for a 3-day stopover in my other "desert" destination: Paris.

Désert #2
Wait, what?
you say.
How can Paris be a desert city?
you say.
(And how could you only go there for 3 days?! asked my ballet friend Emma, who was horrified to hear that I didn't even spend one whole week there.)

But Paris, glittering, glamorous, alluring and aristocratic capital of France - is, after all, part of Europe.

Europe, where just over 500 years ago the Protestant Reformation brought religious & spiritual upheaval to nations or kingdoms that we know as England, Germany and Switzerland
- BUT -
this same Reformation, for God's own mysterious reasons, did not have much long-term impact in south-western regions such as Spain, Italy or (you guessed it) France.

Europe, some areas of which were completely transformed by Protestant Reformed teaching from the Bible - at least for a time. But from then until now, there were still European nations (and their capitals) that missed out on this; regions that remained strongly Roman Catholic, suppressing or opposing Protestant Christian evangelism or church growth. Nations like France, where during and after the in/famous Revolution of 1789 the oppressive, non-egalitarian, Catholic-friendly monarchy was overthrown, then eventually replaced, by a sometimes militantly secular Republic.

Europe, which English-speaking missionaries will tell you outright is now (mostly) a really tough place to be Christian, live as a Christian, or grow others in their Christian faith.

And as someone who has been in modern Paris as a semi-competent (read: non-native ) French speaker, who has tried to talk with French university students about the good news of Jesus , who has walked alongside local French ministry apprentices (we call our Aussie equivalents Howies at Sydney University or MTSers at CBS, etc.) and seen something of the challenges they face ...I would agree that France IS a hard place for Christians or Christian groups to grow or thrive.

Like a desert environment, France is, in fact, a hard place for a believer, OR for a Christian student movement, OR for a local church to grow or thrive spiritually - without intervention or special provision from our merciful God. So places like Paris are much more like a desert (in a spiritual sense) than you would otherwise think.
________________

In 2011, I met with Australian believers who were living in Strasbourg. They'd started as cross-cultural missionaries in France over 10 years before I could even think about visiting. (My thinking started in 2008; they were serving in Paris with CMS pre-1995 before they moved out to Strasbourg during the 2000's.)

Even before my 1st trip to Paris in late June 2009, I'd heard from these Aussies and from others like them how hard life was for French believers, the French church and French Christian groups around universities (Groupes Bibliques Universitaires, or GBU). Even then, they spoke about France as something of a spiritual desert. Along with a small, faithful handful of local French ministry workers and some other non-French IFES staffworkers, these Aussies had spent more than a decade within the French cultural context trying to assist with preaching, teaching and reaching out to a highly secular majority on the campuses of major French cities like Toulon, Toulouse, Strasbourg and (of course) Paris.

In partnership with their French colleagues, they had laboured at the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace and training French students to read the Bible, to lead Bible discussions and to share the hope they had in Christ as Lord and Saviour with their unsaved friends . With quite limited success they had taken every opportunity to encourage French ministry trainees to consider continuing as GBU staffworkers in full-time Christian service with university students (instead of automatically joining the non-religious professional workforce)...

That's how it would have happened in Australia, after all - the natural step from doing a ministry apprenticeship to thinking about applying for future full-time Christian service. Particularly in Sydney where I went to uni., I watched goodly handfuls of ministry trainees (who, like those in France, served in Christian groups to reach university students with the good news of Jesus) often continue on to study full-time at Bible colleges. Colleges like SMBC in Croydon, or Morling at Macquarie Park, or Moore at Newtown (where I was until end 2017) . From finishing theological study in Sydney, many of these ex-apprentices then proceeded into full-time Christian ministry roles back in Australian university settings.

An example.
Of the cohort I started/finished with (Moore 2014-2017), I can immediately tell you of 5 College couples and another 3 single girls who all went on to be staffworkers with uni. Christian groups after completing theological studies. That is 8 ministry worker "units" from just one year group at Moore - of whom only 3 units stayed to serve in Sydney. (The other 5 are working for student groups in Melbourne, Wagga, Toowoomba and Auckland.)


But not so for their French counterparts...

My 1st visit to France in 2009 saw God opening doors for me to join a GBU summer team in Paris.


We...
* ran a week-long mission, Bible-stands outside campus property (French universities were unlike Australian ones in that religious clubs & societies have not been not permitted on the campus)
* invited students to share what they believed (or didn't believe) about Jesus
* invited them to evangelistic events where the good news was discussed (e.g. talking religious themes during a "Life Is Beautiful" movie night) or outright preached.

Our mission team was half-international and half-French, with at least seven of the French team members having done a minimum of 1 year as a ministry trainee (un stage Relai, or Relay apprenticeship like the Relay program in the UK, MTS or HGP here, etc.). Yet of those 7 Relai trainees, only one, Fabrice, applied for further study at Bible college and has ended up in full-time ministry (to date).

That's a comparatively discouraging retention rate compared to what we Sydneysiders might observe with our ministry apprentices here in my city. Fabrice - the only one out of 7 apprentices to continue into full-time French/Francophone ministry.
Compared to 8 newly-graduated Moore College couples or singles who most likely started as MTS apprentices before going into English-speaking student ministry.

It does seem such a natural progression to the Christians of urban Sydney like me; many of us owe at least some growth in our personal Christian faith to such ministry apprentices and staffworkers as encouraged us in our involvement with EU at Sydney Uni. (the Howies, or HGP trainees). Or with CBS/FOCUS at UNSW (MTS-ers). Or with ECU at the Cumberland campus in Lidcombe (also called MTS-ers). Or with CU/FOCUS at Macquarie (also called MTS-ers).. .. ..

But back in 2009, as I hope you can see, in Paris it was just not happening the same way.
________________

So - has much changed in the spiritual desert between 2009 and 2018?

You will be thankful, as I was, to learn how the tide has somewhat turned since my first visit to Paris 9 years ago.

In September 2018, just last month, I flew to Paris direct from Dubai. From one desert to another...


Once again, I joined a GBU team (not a summer one, but run in a similar fashion).

Once again, we...
* ran a week-long mission (though I could only join in for one day this time),
doing Bible-stands outside (or sometimes, on) campus property
* invited students to share what they believed (or didn't believe) about Jesus
* invited them to evangelistic events where the good news was discussed (e.g. talking religious themes during a "Gran Torino" movie night) or outright preached.


But this year
- those on the mission team were mostly French or native-French-speaking!

And - a great praise point!! - at least three of the French participants were pursuing full-time ministry as staffworkers with the national GBU movement.

Aside from their obvious passion to see French university students hear the gospel of Jesus, it was so encouraging for me to see these 3 ex-Relai trainees in action. Three ex-apprentices who had moved on into further service with the GBU in different locations around France. And such a contrast to 2009 (when all one saw - apart from Fabrice - was Relai trainees doing their 1-2 years of apprenticeship without going any further towards full-time Christian service).

That said, it's still a bit of a desert for these GBU staffworkers (and for other such friends, their French GBU colleagues in places like Nancy and Clermont-Ferrand).

Their financial status (from prayer newsletters I receive) is a bit like mine was most of this year. Living from month to month.

If they aren't fully funded to serve Christian students in the cities or regions where they live, they'll either have to give it all up, or work more in secular jobs that detract from the time they desire to spend teaching/discipling/training up the next generation of French believers.

And the French funding base is a lot weaker and smaller than anything I've heard about in Sydney.


To use Isaiah's words - they need
"..water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,"
in order that they might declare God's praise (ISA. 43:20-21).
________________

Dubai?
It would be tough to survive in the desert places of the United Arab Emirates without the running water and the air-conditioning its cities have.
Pretty much impossible for me.

Paris?
It's tough to survive as a French believer, let alone as a French Christian in full-time service with the GBU, anywhere in the spiritual desert of France - without continued encouragement.
Or without the necessary financial support.
Is it really any more possible for them?

Which is why I want to pray for them.

All the more now that there are more French GBU staffworkers than there ever were back in 2009.

And why I would ask prayer from you, too.
For them in France.
But not only for them; there are other local staffworkers in similarly gospel-poor nations like Japan and Italy and Spain...

Will you pray?
For God to mercifully provide the needs of His chosen people,
in places so much tougher to serve than here in Australia?


"Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
The wild beasts will honour me,
the jackals and the ostriches,
for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
the people whom I formed for myself
that they might declare my praise."
ISAIAH 43:19-21

L/T.

40+ heures dans le désert (1re partie)

Yes, the translators among you got it right. I did recently spend more than 40 hours in the desert. Literally.

...And yes, it's true, it was an actual, geographical desert.
With a city in it.
In the United Arab Emirates.
________________

...euh...en fait, dans 2 déserts.

If I want to be really technical (which regrettably for millennial readers I always do), the fact is that I had time off to wander not 1, but 2 deserts last month. With the second one being more of a metaphorical desert...

Those of Protestant Christian faith - like me - who know or care that there are countless places & people groups outside Australia where the Church struggles to persevere, grow or produce its own native-speaking local leaders - may have heard about Europe.

That in spite of a long history of Christendom, the European Church is not doing very well spiritually or missionally (compared to the Australian Church esp. in Sydney).

Western Europe in particular has been recently described as a "spiritual desert" by several Aussies who lived there as long-term cross-cultural missionaries (for 5-25 years). And this was, therefore, the other desert in which I wandered in early September. Of course, as friends would have expected of me, the bit I went to was in France.

Yes, while God's people in early Israel's history wandered 40 years in the desert (cf. Exodus through to Deuteronomy in the Bible), I wandered in the desert (first one, then another) just for 40 hours - and then a bit more.
But in a good way, if you can believe it!
________________

After a challenging 8-month run of living between paychecks all year, feeling like I was scraping the bottom of the barrel, the arrival of my tax return in late August meant I finally had a chance to take a week's break from working and go on a proper holiday. And for the first time in 7 years, I could afford flights overseas on my own income (with plenty to spare for present & future utility bills. Merci Seigneur for tax returns!).

So in early September I took the week off daycare and flew to my first desert destination: Dubai.

Désert #1
A modern city financed with oil and built on the shores of the Gulf, Dubai has the kind of advanced air-conditioning that I shall recall with a mixture of great fondness and even greater envy on Sydney's next 34-degree-or-hotter Australian summer day.

I'd hoped to visit this desert city since finishing College with my one-year Diploma. (To much personal grief on my part, God has now made it clear that going to France to join French Christians long-term is not currently an option without a 3-year theology degree. I don't intend to explain this further right now, perhaps in the future I'll blog about it...) When I knew that my September 2018 finances would stretch to overseas airfares, choosing Dubai as a break destination was a no-brainer. Part of going there was to survey, albeit briefly (I stayed only 3 days & 3 nights of my week off work), whether I might find the city personally liveable for up to 2 or 4 or 5 or even maybe 10+ years...

That's because I've never seriously considered remaining in Sydney after graduating from College. Because experiences I had nearly a decade ago - meeting and partnering with French Christian ministry trainees/workers who wanted to reach unsaved university students in Paris (visited 2009-2010) and Strasbourg (visited 2011) - challenged me to re-think my involvement as a mission supporter outside the English-speaking West. Now that studies are done with me, I've spent 2018 thinking through & exploring some options for serving gospel-poorer peoples - including French-speaking Europeans - away from my home city. Options like working as an expatriate in a foreign city, like Dubai, where churches are needier than almost anywhere here in Sydney. (Or even in Melbourne, where churches are, whilst less needy than in Dubai, more needy compared to Sydney.)

Dubai.

One of the tourist guidebooks I read called it a "jewel of the Arabian Desert".

All such tourist literature also supplied blatant warnings about climate extremes, reminding any careful reader of the city's location:
In. The. Desert. (Read: HOT.)

It certainly sounded extreme enough on paper, yet until I got off the plane in Dubai, I could never have previously known or understood what "desert" really meant!

The day I arrived in Dubai, the temperature alone was 46 degrees.
(That's 13 degrees higher than what I'm comfy with in Sydney!)

It was late summer in Dubai, maybe even autumn - but still, gosh, was it HOT! And dry. And hot. And dry. And...

Without its modern comforts - air-conditioning in every building, cheap but good/drinkable bottled water, or world-class city plumbing systems -
Dubai really was, quite literally, in the midst of
"a dry and weary land where there is no water".
(Quoting David the psalmist's sentiments about the desert of Judah in PSALM 63:1.)

Now if you ever want to experience - really experience - a true definition of what "desert" feels like, I highly recommend Dubai in summer!

As for me:
I left for Europe as scheduled after 3 days wandering about in Dubai. (Mainly because I had only a few days left of my week-long break before returning to work in Sydney.)

In terms of where I'm up to in my thinking, I feel fine about continuing to apply for work in Dubai, and remain open to any future leading from God into that city, in particular any educational/residential role that gives me adequate time to join other believers in reaching gospel-poor expatriate peoples (70% of Dubai's population). I would like to believe I would be happy to go, whenever the time comes...

So my stay in the desert ended up being time well spent. I'm so thankful to God for the opportunity to be in Dubai. And for those first 4 days of rest from daycare work! Much more refreshing than one would have expected from a desert.

And then, it was time to revisit the spiritual desert of Europe. Well, the bit of it in France I was going to. But that's for next time...

L/T.

5+ ans, 1 petite fille, 1 désir exprimé...

From early September just up until now, God has provided some much-needed rest (after a very busy 8 months of working with babies and preschoolers and every age in-between). Time to stop and think has been provided, too.

The last "holiday" event I attended before returning to the normal pace of work was a three-day camp with believing children, women and men. Most of the adults (to date) have had doors opened for them to serve God somewhere full-time.

That is, whilst I've spent most of the past year working with an excellent but secular early childhood company (where talking about Jesus - or other religious figureheads - all week long is just *not done*), the majority of my fellow campers have been working in church or para-church settings as paid ministers of the good news of Jesus. Assistant ministers, youth pastors, women's and/or children's ministers, staff-workers with university Christian student groups, all kinds of roles where they have the freedom - though not always the opportunity, or open doors - to point people to Jesus all week long (without needing to generate income externally as a few of us still do).

I knew the campers from Bible college - we all started studying in the same year (2014), and I finished my part-time course the same time that most of them finished their 4-year theology degrees (we had graduation earlier this year). In the latter three years I got to know those of the cohort really worth knowing, particularly some who were mums and dads with children under five years old. (It helped that a large handful of the kids were in my preschool Sunday School class, saw/played with/clowned around with me during the week at College, and introduced me to all their other preschool-aged friends.) To this day I'd say it was they, as much as their parents, whose open and hospitable spirit made me feel most welcomed and at home in the College bubble.

The camp was effectively a three-day reunion gathering for our College cohort. Songs, sharing, Bible talks or reflections, praying, catching-up, a little bit of weeping - and playing (more done by the children than the grown-ups). Camp for me was spent interacting as much with all my littlest friends (read: playing - it's my job description at work. Yes, really!) as with my grown-up friends (both married and singles).

Leading to a rather moving moment on the last day of camp, when I was predictably among the kids (I work in early childhood, but not as an ECT, so focusing on play with children makes up much of my working days - and is a hard habit to break!).

There was a lull in the rainy-day game that our group of little friends had made up collaboratively. At the time, 1 little girl was sitting with me. Aged 5, in Kindergarten, but still happy to be hanging out with the preschoolers (one being her 3 y.o. brother). As we watched the other girls and boys galumphing about and running in and out of the room, she turned to me and expressed this one wistful thought:
"I wish we could all live together in the same house, all the time."

I knew what she meant.
I used to feel the same way as a teenager on the final day of youth camps with believers from my church.
I knew a number of the mums were already feeling emotional about saying goodbye to each other that day. Knowing that friends and Christian sisters who really understood the struggles of ministry would soon be 2 or 3 or 14 hours' drive away. I'd seen the redness in their eyes, the tears on their cheeks, the sadness of their hearts reflected on their faces. While my little friend had obviously really enjoyed her time with the other children from the College cohort, while it felt like a little piece of heaven being together with our wider Christian family from the Moore community - she didn't like the idea of having to say goodbye.

And neither did I.

This little girl may have spoken only to me, and yet she speaks for all of us, in a way. Being in community with Christian families and singles can be great fun; sometimes it's a great encouragement to live cheek-by-jowl with your sisters and brothers and children in Christ. It was like that for many of us on this camp. In our hearts (just like this 1 little girl) we'd love to keep all being together, in the same house, all the time.

And the good news is that, one day, we WILL be living together.
In the same house.
All the time.

Because it's actually what Jesus promised His disciples, His believing friends.

In our time, that means us - any child or grown-up or family for whom Christ Jesus is Saviour and Lord.

Here's the proof, in John chapter 14, verses 1 to 3:

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me.
In My Father's house there are many rooms;
if it were not so, I would have told you.
I am going there to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come back and take you to be with Me
that you also may be where I am."
________________

For my 5-year-old friend, for her family, for all our friends on camp (both children and grown-ups), we have a sure hope that one day we will be with the Lord forever.

And yet the reason we all trained for Christian ministry at theological college was because Jesus didn't die only for "us".

Because the Father sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world (1 JOHN 4:14).

We signed up for College (well, the grown-ups did) because we wanted to be better equipped to tell a lost and hell-bound world about hope and salvation and eternal life in Jesus.

Because we wanted to share His good news with others who don't know (or who do know, but don't want to really listen).
________________

Yes, it would be great for all of us, who now believe, to be together with Jesus in His Father's house.

And yet we face a task unfinished.
The task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace to those who have never heard it, or those who have never listened. And the task of encouraging one another to keep trusting Jesus.
To keep growing in knowledge and love of Him, to keep persevering when life is tough or we face disappointment, heartbreak, grief, illness, danger, death...

There will come a day when our time on earth is done, and when (as desired, just a little, this past week) we will be together, in the same house, all the time.

But right now, whilst we live - in Sydney's west or east or north or north shore, in Melbourne, in Queanbeyan, in Toowoomba, in Shellharbour, in Hobart, Auckland, Christchurch, London, Singapore or even an unnamed but known East Asian megacity - and whilst we have the strength God gives us, and until Jesus takes us home to His Father's house, we share the good news about Him in the hope that many more will be saved.

And that they will join us.

REVELATION 7:9

L/T.

1 mot, tout petit

Or en anglais, "one word, tiny."

As tiny as an embryo...
________________

The Greek word is βρέφος [brephos], ους, τό.

It means, BABY.^

In Luke's gospel, brephos is used not only for a newborn baby, but also an unborn baby.

Any occasional stalkers of me on f’book (or anyone un/fortunate enough to hear or see me in public for 30 min. or more) will notice that I spend a lot of time engaging with little children. (My profile pic., for instance, is a dead giveaway. And currently, it's my job.)

So hunting this word brephos up (in 2017), post-Doctrine 1 exam - after I picked an “infant-baptism” topic - was a rare and treasured pearl.

First occurrences of this “baby” word in the NT?
John the Baptist, in utero.

For six months after conception, he's been growing inside the womb of his not-exactly-young mother Elizabeth. Though not yet born, John hears the voice of mummy's cousin Mary coming into the house and leaps, sir, leaps into action. Luke uses the word twice over four verses (“the baby in the womb” LK. 1:41-44, τὸ βρέφος ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ).

Then there’s John’s cousin, Jesus, the Saviour born Christ the Lord, who is a sign by virtue of being a [newborn] baby, swaddled and mangered.
Again, Luke uses the word twice - this time over five verses (“you will find the baby...in the manger”, LK. 2:12-16, τὸ βρέφος.. ..ἐν τῇ φάτνῃ).

Which brings me to the bit of Luke I really, REALLY like…

See how angry the grown man Jesus gets when His disciples rebuke those who bring babies to the Lord (in LUKE 18).

Yes, the word is the newborn/unborn baby word:
People were “[bringing] also babies in order that He might place hands on them” (LK. 18:15 - καὶ τὰ βρέφη ἵνα αὐτῶν ἅπτηται).

Jesus’ point?

Let the little children - AND the babies - come to Him.
And do not hinder or prevent them.
Because the kingdom of heaven is to be received, as babies would receive it...and this kingdom, based on the context of the brephos word Luke has used so far, is even for the unborn.

In Mark's account of Jesus with the little children, the writer adds,
"Then He took the children in His arms and blessed them."

I love that.

Because by association, aligning Luke's recount with Mark's one,
this means that Jesus took the babies in His arms.
Surely this means that He lifted them up from their parents' arms and cuddled them.
Like the Lord as a shepherd in ISAIAH 40, He gathered little ones in His arms and carried them close to His heart (ISA. 40:11).

That's what I do when I hold a baby, esp. at work - support and cuddle them nice and close so that they feel as secure as I can make them (considering I'm no replacement for their mums/primary carers!). I cannot think of a lovelier picture than the Lord Jesus doing this too - surrounded by little ones, holding babies close just the way that we do.

I've written up my thoughts/studies on this because I want you to know how much Jesus loves all of us and wants us to be in His kingdom. All of us - not only the tallest, biggest or oldest - but, from looking into Luke's gospel, even those who exist but are not yet born.

Even those who existed, but whose mothers miscarried and so they were never born.

Even those who were recently born, but lived for only hours or days or weeks after birth...

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future,
nor any powers, neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us
from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
~ ROMANS 8:38-39

L/T.

^Ideas about this Greek word for newborn or unborn baby were first written in my f'book Note, titled, "Greek of the Week", 25/12/2017.

Citations bibliques au cimetière

Or, less poetically in English, Bible quotes in the graveyard.
________________

Yes, at the moment, I have not yet either left Sydney or worked out where I will be - though I'd prefer to be outside it in the long run, now that my College studies are completed. (The gospel-poverty of anywhere outside this city means I'm not really very interested in staying here long-term). After nearly ten years, my heart remains with French-speaking Europe, although it has proven a hard door to walk through...

That said, whilst I remain in this generally gospel-rich city, God has mercifully given me many opportunities to witness to gospel-poor individuals and families - churched and unchurched peoples, Buddhists, Muslims, atheists, ex-believers.

One recent opportunity was helping out some friends at an Anglican church in Sydney's affluent eastern suburbs, in their running of a 5 day holiday program on their church grounds.

Would we like a cemetery with that?
Well, even if we'd said no, the cemetery was there over 150 years before my friends started ministry at the church.
And so, during the afternoons, we took the children (grades Kindergarten to Year 5) to play in the cemetery.

As you do.
________________

The gospel in the graveyard...

Whilst it sounds weird (if not possibly also a bit creepy!), walking and talking with the children amongst the gravestones and memorials during afternoon playtime was my favourite part of the week. Being on this church day camp gave us (myself, my friends and other camp leaders) constant open doors, all day long, to share with kids about the Lord Jesus and the salvation He achieved through His death and resurrection.

I had the youngest children - mainly Kindergarteners and Year Ones whose exploration of the crumbling, overgrown burial plots involved great curiosity about the personal details, epitaphs and Bible verses carved on the gravestones or accompanying mounted plates.

As emergent readers, they would walk around asking for help in reading the words they saw - many of which were Bible quotes. One tombstone, for example, cited ROMANS 8:18,
"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us".

Reading out the Bible verses quote led to conversations about why people buried there (or their families who organised the memorials) would have wanted citations from God's Word carved or etched over their graves.

Naturally this progressed to talking about Jesus, His words, His life, death and rising from the dead, His ultimate victory over death, and the hope not only of salvation but of eternal life to be found through trusting in Him as Lord and Saviour.

I loved it. I loved the freedom of sharing the good news of life in Christ - especially in the midst of the dead. I loved being able to talk about Jesus with the children there. Why His words were so important. Why people might have wanted His words quoted over them, or their loved ones, in their final earthly resting place. The living hope, sure and certain, that all Christians can have in Him as our Saviour.

For me, the Bible passage that summed up my numbered days in that eastern suburbs cemetery was ACTS 20:24:
"I consider my life worth nothing to me;
my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me
– the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace."

I’d aspire to have that on my gravestone.
________________

L/T.

4 mois dans le désert - mais de l'eau du rocher

(cf. EX. 17 and NUM. 20)

The last 4 months have felt like a bit of a wilderness journey. Mainly because as I continue to explore what doors might open this year for cross-cultural service (particularly among French-speaking Europeans), I have been working a fair bit as a childcare professional in order to make basic ends meet.

My living-between-paychecks existence this year so far has been a humbling experience (though I would shrink from thinking I am actually humble, and oh how my ballet teacher Miss Olivia would laugh if she heard me call myself humble!). However, it has taught me to keep praying in light of Biblical texts such as PHILIPPIANS 4:19 and 1 PETER 5:7, and to be asking friends, both in person and here on f’book, to be praying with me.
(If you are reading this and were praying, thank you for your faithfulness and for walking with me through this.)

Just in the past 2 weeks I have seen some amazingly merciful answers to prayers recently prayed. So here are a couple of little stories that I want to share with anyone who will read. Water-from-the-rock vignettes, to encourage you to keep seeking God also...though I know for certain that the path God is leading you down probably looks very different to mine.
________________

2 birds, 22.5 hours work unpaid, but 6 too many offers!

A fortnight ago a friend had to move in with me very suddenly.
We'd met & made friends at church about 6 years back, when she was a new believer. Life choices took her away from church about 4 years ago, and around 2 years ago the *trouble* started.

In what ended up being my final winter at College, she contacted me out of the blue to seek refuge from a manipulative male friend-with-benefits. (I say "friend", using the term *very* loosely indeed.) She stayed with me - and away from him - less than a week, but then, instead of taking up a new job offer and accommodation far from the *trouble*, she returned into the problematic situation. Which, predictably, worsened. Into not 2, but 3 kinds of abuse - perpetrated by the "friend-with-benefits".

And so, this year (10 months after), she got in touch again. And of course I wanted her to be safe and separate from the *trouble*, so of course she moved in with me, knowing of nowhere else to go. Financially though, our combined circumstances were poor. She had minimal savings because of up to 10 months' financial abuse. Meanwhile, I'd received from my casual employer only 20 hours' pay of the total 42.5 hours I'd actually worked in preschools/daycare over 14 days - then used this meagre underpayment up for basic bills/utilities. With the little I had left, I had no idea about how the 2 of us would survive as I barely had enough spare to buy food for 1 person (let alone 2).

So, as a daughter of the Heavenly Father and a servant of the King, I asked Him for help according to promises like PHIL. 4:19^. This is something I've had to do a lot between 2015 and now when I felt I had little or nothing left - and that was quite often! I also asked a lot of friends via social media outlets & groups to pray that God would provide our needs. (Because when I likened the 2 of us to "chickens scratching in the dirt", I wasn't kidding.)

God, being the kind and merciful Father that He is, and the King to whom the earth and everything in it belongs, answered through moving His church to action.
Within 48 hours of asking friends to pray with me (mainly via text messages and f'book), I had 7 of my sisters & brothers in the Lord reach out with offers of financial support.
Yes, not 1, but 7.

Bear in mind, I hadn't asked anybody for such support - I had simply asked for them to join in praying (not giving).
But suddenly, in the blink of an eye, there we were - myself and my chook friend (*wink*) with 7 people showing great love and care for us. Even though none of them knew my friend. {PHILOXENIA!^^} And we only needed 1 person to give us practical help out of the 7 who offered!

Disclaimer: I am only human, and still subject to the bondage of sin and its desires (including the desire not to trust God completely), so it wasn't as if I felt fully confident when asking for God to supply our needs.

That said, I was blown away by God's answer in the form of 6 more offers of help than the 2 of us actually needed.

----------------

1 electronic device, 2 older brothers, 0 unhelpful conflicts

One way I agreed to help my friend *not* to go back to her abuser a 2nd time, was to return an electronic device he claimed as his property. As far as she told me (initially), this device handover would involve going to where she, the abuser/friend-with-benefits and some others had been living in a share-house situation. By implication there was every chance that the abuser would confront whoever arrived to hand over the device, and possibly become dangerous or threatening.

This was not something I was afraid of for my sake - but anyone who has known me more than 4 years will know that my berserker moments (read: when I *really* get angry) are legendary and to be avoided at all costs. (I try to avoid my fits of rage myself, in fact - but with limited success!)

But I digress. So that any trouble or conflict would be minimised on the day of device handover - I prayed for God to make available some of my Christian brothers who could go along with me that day and help defuse whatever trouble might arise.
{Or who could calmly hold me back and reason with me if the absolute worst happened (read: if I lost my temper!).}

And again - God's answer to prayer was more than could have been asked or imagined.

2 of the 7 people who had originally offered support were able to join me the day I went to hand over the abuser's device - 2 of my brothers from Moore College.

And, in the end, God orchestrated the time so that we never actually saw/encountered the abuser at handover. {Although even if we had met him, the 2 brothers who came with me were men of the moment - being in my age bracket, looking significantly older, of Anglo appearance (where I am dainty, short and Asian), and having had some challenging life experiences prior to us all starting at college - meaning they would have probably handled any conflict much more wisely than me or other younger friends.}

In short, pretty much the exact provision needed!

----------------
The point I want to make is about God's gracious answers to the prayers I mentioned above.

How He was pleased to answer by doing immeasurably more than all I could have asked or imagined (or what you prayed for me, if you partnered with me in praying over the past 14 days).

I wanted to share my experience so that you, or anyone else reading these words, might see the kindness and mercy of God and His faithfulness in answering little prayers. Also, how His loving provision was unwavering in the face of my flashes of personal doubt. Like Moses and the people of Israel in the desert, sometimes it was hard to believe that God could bring water out of a rock^^^. And yet, in these circumstances, where an undeserving person or people were hard-hearted, unbelieving, grumbling about being left to die - God, the same God then as now, cared for them. And has cared for me - and for my prodigal friend.

________________

What kinds of prayers and requests will you take to our Heavenly Father, according to what He promised in His Word?

L/T.


^ "My God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." (PHILIPPIANS 4:19)

^^ See previous 2 posts from 2018 for an explanation of the Greek word PHILOXENIA.

^^^ See the Exodus and Numbers story references at the top of this post.
(Bible.)

1 adjectif + 1 nom (2e partie)

In the preceding blog post, I introduced 2 words, philoxenos (adjective) and philoxenia (noun).

What I am going to say next will not make a shred of sense unless you've looked at what I've already written - and I hope, if you call yourself a follower of Jesus, that you might take time to read it if He has given you some free time (and you're on the internet right now!).

I wanted to give some real-life examples, experiences I've had, to illustrate what I think IS this true hospitality, this idea of philoxenos or philoxenia. This word group that highlights showing the love of a friend to a person that we might be least comfortable with.

~

Example 1: Pre-existing group of Christians (around 8 girls).
A group of believing girls are standing around chatting after the Christian meeting. None of them are close friends of mine, though as an extreme extrovert who loves people I'm always happy to talk to or get to know any of my sisters in Christ a bit more. I join their conversation.

What happens next has got to be what philoxenia is all about.

Whilst the girl currently speaking doesn't necessarily stop talking, she and all others in the group subtly but surely widen and rearrange the circle in which they are standing. Very slightly - to include my late arrival. As much as they can in a medium-sized group, they also include me in eye-contact as whoever speaks, speaks. If one girl decides that the conversation requires a bit of filling-in-the-background-information, she tells me briefly in a low voice. If I decide to join in the chatter, they reciprocate. And so on. Though I don't see myself as necessarily belonging to this group of Christian sisters - they have geographically, non-verbally and verbally made me welcome.

~

Example 2: Passenger on bus ride.
Have just boarded a bus away from college. One of my Christian brothers, whom I know only vaguely by face and possibly name, rushes onto the bus just before the door closes. Have seen this one around campus for nearly 4 years, but because I've been a crazy-busy part-timer over that period and he appears to be a combination of very quiet plus super busy (and always seems to be around the same little mixed group of friends), we've never had a formal conversation at all. Not even an introductory one, I think!

Though he's obviously quiet and quietly spoken - he takes the initiative to make conversation. Of course, being happy to chat to anybody, I'm up for it (as noted during Example #1).

I am not this brother's friend. We have never spoken before, to my knowledge. Since then, I think we have been in the same vicinity to have only one other conversation, and that's OK.

But it's noteworthy that, although I'm not part of his friendship group, and although it's probably a sacrifice of his emotional capital to start and maintain a conversation with an extremely chatty extrovert like me, his attitude strikes me as philoxenos. He is friendly and kind, and though I don't view myself as anything like him - certainly not the kind of person he would make friends or connect with easily, this does not stop him from making an effort.

~

Example 3: 2 friends going to have coffee.
I join 2 other Christian sisters after lunch having a chat. After some brief conversation on how our morning classes were, one of the 2 girls indicates that she and the other are going to walk to a nearby café to catch up (she's a full-timer, our friend is a part-timer). "Are you free? Want to join us?" she says.

It was clear that in the time before I joined this chat, they had planned to catch up together, just the 2 of them. Like so many other situations I've been in (and almost all with Christians training for church leadership/ministry at this college), they could so easily have said their farewells and walked off for their little catch-up because they weren't prepared to be THAT inclusive.. .. ..

But philoxenia was at work here. They took me along on their close-friends-style coffee catch-up, openly shared news, struggles and prayer points, invited me to do the same even though I was technically playing gooseberry/a third wheel, and I think they may even have paid for my drink afterwards. They were a couple of philoi, close friends who knew each other from before, and I was the outsider, the xenos - but in the whole interaction they treated me with the same level of openness that I think they still would have shown had I not joined them at all that day.
________________

Now I'm NOT saying we Christians need to be like this all the time.
I recognise we all have different levels of energy and different personalities.

But what I've tried to illustrate above is a general attitude of godliness - an openness and willingness to share with others even if you're not particular friends (and maybe never will be); even if you might not get along straightaway; even if you had other more private plans.

These are, I hope, encouraging stories that hopefully may inspire you in your Christian walk & conduct. Not because you can, from your own strength, or even of your own free will - but because you (and I) have a Master in heaven who gives us the suffficient grace we need in every interaction to be like this.

So how will you be philoxenos, show philoxenia, towards those outside of your comfort zone?

~

L/T.

1 adjectif + 1 nom (1e partie)

1 adjective, and 1 noun.

Both have to do with the concept we call "hospitality". But not quite in the way you'd expect.

Both are Greek words, so closely related that it made sense on f'book to write about them in one sitting.

φιλόξενος [philoxenos], ον - an adjective φιλοξενία [philoxenia], ας, ἡ - a noun

(lit., Loving of strangers, or, Friend of foreigners) What follows is what I wrote on these words, in a Note on my f'book wall. ________________ These 2 words only appear a total of five times in the NT but they are EPIC.
And not in a modern sense - I’m talking the pre-Generation-X definition of epic, a Homer’s Iliad style understanding of epic... Each is a compound word; made of 2 separate words, “philos” and “xenos”. PHILOS The “philos” word is the kind of love one has for friends. In the Gospels it is used of Jesus (He’s a friend of publicans & sinners, MATT. 11 & LUKE 7) and by Him when talking about the kind of friends we’d lend anything to (if they nagged us hard enough, LUKE 11); the kind of friend we’d invite to celebrate with us (LUKE 15), the kind that’s a bridegroom’s BFF (JOHN 3). In John’s gospel Jesus uses it a lot when talking to/of His own friends (e.g. Lazarus - JN 11:11, and in JN. 15:13-15). XENOS For the “xenos” word, in all but one New Testament occurrence it is understood to mean someone (or something) strange or foreign. Someone non-local. Not of your people. Not anything like you. For example, the non-Jewish Christians of Ephesus - in comparison to the Jewish believers they did church with (EP. 2:12-19). So.. .. .. .. .. ..These 2 little compound sibling words, philoxenos and philoxenia, seem to be giving the impression that what we lamely call “hospitality” is, in fact, the following: the treatment of strangers or foreigners - that presumably we’ve never met before/don’t know well/may even feel really awkward towards - as if they were our close and valued friends that we’d do anything for or with. ~ LEADERS. My friends. My fellow leaders. My overseers... You know those 2 passages that somewhere in your ministry training somebody showed you? The 1 Timothy 3 and the Titus 1 text? (If we want to sound impressive we call them The Pastoral Epistles.) Guess which word appears in both, telling YOU what YOU need to be like in order to be a godly leader, above reproach..? Oh yes it is. That little word, philoxenos. In the Timothy and Titus lists of leadership qualities, it’s just one word and you could almost miss it - but the apostle Paul does include it. “An overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach” (1 TIM. 3:2 - δεῖ οὖν τν ἐπίσκοπον.. .. φιλόξενον).. ..or.. ..“an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined” (TITUS 1:7-8 - δεῖ γαρ τον ἐπίσκοπον.. .. φιλόξενον). The point? Leaders = PHILOXENOS. I love how that “must” (δεῖ) is used. It is necessary that we do this, be this, show this. It is NOT an option. It is compulsory to be like this! In the way I described above - seems like we must be philoxenos (in the accusative case): An attitude towards strangers or outsiders so familiar that it reflects the same treatment we’d give to, or at least the same heart we’d have for, the close friends we’d pick for our bridal party if one were single and God ordained for one to then get married. {Oh, and don’t think I forgot about philoxenia - when used in the letters to the Romans and the Hebrews, it is in commands addressed to any Christian, not directly leaders at all: “..practise hospitality”, ROM. 12:13 - την φιλοξενίαν διώκοντες^ - and actually, that diokontes^ word seems more a “Pursue” than “”Practise” word.. “..do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers”, HEB. 13:2 - τῆς φιλοξενίας μη ἐπιλανθάνεσθε. No excuses for any Christian here.} [WARNING. Rant coming.. .. ..] Do we actually live these words? Does philoxenos describe us, if we’ve been called/encouraged into leadership? Do we pursue philoxenia, even if we see ourselves as ordinary, average, lay/pew-sitting Christians? Does this kind of hospitable love even for those outside our comfort zones exist in us? Because it feels like the Bible is saying it should. Do we actually treat people this way - every one, equally? Every person, regardless of differences or personality clashes? Will I invite and include everyone, or just the Christians I feel it’s easiest to get along with, the ones I click with best, just my special friends or my BFFs? Are we willing to care for and share with any Christian that we encounter, when we encounter them? Or limit ourselves to just the people we’ve always hung out with and feel most comfortable around? Ask around to your believing friends or mentors. Do a philoxenos/philoxenia check. Do one on me - I’m not immune, I’m not above this. But for God’s sake, consider these 2 sibling words. Because I will say, right here and now, that we all need to work on this as Christians. In the last 4 years, when I’ve felt hurt by Christian sisters or brothers - especially those training for leadership, those our communities view as exhibiting godly character - I’d hazard that the problem was an absence of philoxenia; that they in some way weren’t making any effort to be philoxenos. It’s not automatic and I could probably think up a ton of personal excuses for why you, or I, should be able to ignore/rationalise away this little word and its implications for us. But I cannot, and I will not, because this is God’s Word. A word that, if we be His servants, we are called to live by. ‘Nuff said. ________________ L/T.

3 disciplines principales de ma formation théologique

3 subjects - the last 3 subjects required for me to finish first year at College - were the focus of my attention in Semester II, 2017.

I have loved every subject I've been graciously allowed to study at Moore since starting in February 2014 {although having been forced to stick to part-time, this has been accompanied by significant frustration on two fronts -
 [1] feeling constantly on the social fringes owing to not being on-campus all day or all week (among other things);  and,
 [2] that financial circumstances have meant I couldn't complete all my first-year subjects any quicker than part-time from 2014 to 2017}.

________________

That said, there were professional and Christian relationships I was in during 2017 (as noted, my fourth year doing first-year studies) for which, it seems, the timing of my final 3 subjects (History of Christian Missions, Doctrine 1 and Understanding Buddhism & Islam) has been providentially perfect.

I. History of Christian Missions (HCM)

As part of income generation, I've been doing private tuition/coaching and homework support for Year 6 boys - I'll call them "6T" and "6S" - both living with their families in the inner west.

Student "6T" (Indonesian mum, Australian-Scottish dad) attends his local Catholic primary school and has been increasingly annoyed at his religious ed. homework, involving such non-Protestant concepts as the seven sacraments and the Rosary. However, thanks to HCM's crash-course style overview of the era from Middle Ages Catholicism to the 1517 Reformation and beyond (learned during 2nd semester 2017), I've been subsequently able to address questions 6T has about differences between Catholic and Protestant beliefs/teaching, and could help him to check things against what the Bible actually says. {To clarify: As a former Sunday School student of mine and now a regular visitor to Village Church (Annandale) youth group, 6T is fine with opening and reading Scripture when encouraged to do so.} He has also been pondering key issues related to gospel truths, such as the purpose and existence of hell - on occasion, interrupting the academic tuition hour with burning questions about Christian teaching.

In short, there are discussions 6T has initiated during coaching, leading to opening doors for me to share information from HCM, and the good news of Jesus - which 6T himself sees is completely different to the Catholic doctrines he's meant to research for homework. To top it all off, 6T has told me he sees how simple Protestant teachings are to understand, and this feeds into his frustration about and growing dislike of the Catholic faith he is expected to tolerate at school.

When I began coaching 6T in 2014 (the same year I began at Moore), at that time - like your average Year 3 child - he wasn't old enough or curious enough to be reflecting on Protestant VS Catholic teachings.

But now, as he's at a point of noticing and exploring such doctrinal differences himself - in God's good plan, me voilà, la bergère petite, helping with his homework just as it has been for 4 years - yet this year presented more opportunity than the last few, since studying HCM uniquely equipped me to be able to point 6T back to what the Bible actually teaches.

II. Doctrine 1

In 2016 and 2017 I was in a Wednesday night Bible study (English-language, but we all look Asian) with a large bunch of university students and early-career workers. Through giving lifts home to other young sisters in Christ I've gotten to know some of these girls quite well over the last 11 months.

The blessing of studying Doctrine 1 this year has shown itself in the fact that we have had deep conversations about doctrinal issues such as the Lord's Supper and baptism, the practical application of which they have been thinking about for themselves as younger Christians. Funnily enough, our most recent chats about this happened within the same week as the Doctrine 1 exam, where I'd had a go at an essay question about Scripture and infant baptism!

So once again my studies were directly relevant to these recent carpool discussions;
and I must admit that - had I completed Doctrine 1 during 2014, 2015 or 2016 - these conversations would not have happened because (until 2017) we girls didn't quite know each other well enough to share openly about these things in the car on our way home.

III. Understanding Buddhism & Islam (UBI)

Part of the UBI course requirements involved 2 conversations with either a practising Buddhist or Muslim person, with the aim of researching aspects of personal faith (and then submitting our reflections for academic assessment).

My 2nd Year 6 coaching child, Student "6S" is best friends with 6T (whom I've already mentioned above). In the course of my academic duties during 2016 and 2017, a friendship has developed with 6S's mother; she and her husband are both Burmese Buddhist emigrants.

When my College classes for UBI began last July - starting with studies of animism and Buddhism - I would often ask 6S's mother brief questions about Buddhism after her boy's tuition hour was up, as it seemed to be a complicated religion with a diverse historical background and I figured she might re-explain some of the basics from a personal perspective.

Once the time came for me to do my required assessment conversations, 6S's mother was more than willing to meet outside of her son's tuition time and answer all the questions I had about the Burmese approach to Buddhism (Theravada). Throughout all our chats about her Buddhist faith - on her porch, in her kitchen, in front of her family worship shrine, in a restaurant nearby where she bought me lunch - I was enabled to find out what she believed about Buddhism and how it affected her life;  and, in time, I also got to ask her about her perceptions of Jesus and Christianity.

Then, in the run-up to the end of Term 4 2017, I knew that 6S's mother was interested in sending 6S along to the Annandale youth group (Village Church, where his friend 6T already goes). So one evening after coaching, I suggested to 6S's mother the idea of visiting one of the Christmas services at Village Church.

This led directly to her asking questions about hell, and the forgiveness of sins, and what if more sins were committed by someone after they had accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour from sin? (She had heard of these things from 6S since when he was younger she had enrolled him briefly in his public school's Protestant Scripture classes.) By God's grace and mercy, the nature of her questions and the discussion that we had opened the door for me to read John 3:16 and 3:36 with her, and also to share the good news of Jesus more fully with her via the Two Ways To Live evangelistic method (picture boxes).

________________

None of the conversations or opportunities I had this year could have really taken place in the 3 years prior to 2017 as I juggled work hours with my part-time Moore subjects.

In that regard it seems clear to me that God has, again and again, set me in His place, and at His time to witness to others.

Whilst in some ways I have hated the fact that it has taken me 4 years [financially] to get through just one year of theological study at Moore, I cannot deny, nor fail to give thanks for, the way that God has used the experience of last semester's subjects to declare His glory among people from the nations.

He graciously opened new doors in 2017.

Doors which were not ready to open during my first, second or third years of studying.

Doors that opened at the exact time that I was placed and equipped:
  (1) to encourage Indo-Scottish Australian 6T in his growing understanding of the greatness and yet the simplicity of the good news of Jesus;
  (2) to support my Asian-background sisters in Christ as they clarified doctrinal truths for themselves;  and,
  (3) to share directly about the saving work of Jesus, once for all sin, with 6S's Burmese mother
- both by opening up the Bible with her and evangelising via Two Ways To Live.
________________

The sense of being located within God's perfect timing has been very strong as I've reflected on the past few months.

If nothing else, it puts in mind the following..
"And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
~  ESTHER 4,14

L/T.