The Sunday Summary [2012-14]

This week has mostly been a good week; though paired with most uplifting events, I seemed to experience disappointment, stress or frustration, giving an overall impression of feeling down or sadness…

From Monday to Wednesday, things in the office were fairly quiet with the senior staff away at Senior Staff Conference. This meant that I was able to catch up on some bits and pieces of work, but also do things at my own pace, which was good. I found Thursday to be a struggle though, as people landed back in the office, and no real time for me to settle in to the working day meant that I was grumpy and stressed for the remainder of it…

Monday night at growth group, we looked at the topic of ‘money‘ from Luke 12:15-34. It was a good study, more on the topic of treasure; what we value and make a priority, rather than money itself, and also a bit on anxiety. It was kind of interesting that we didn’t really speak about giving, though it really is a topic that isn’t covered often. I’m pondering whether or not to write up a post on my thoughts and practices around giving; would you be interested in reading it?

This week I wasn’t able to catch-up with Geoff as he was busy with a college essay. Now I had 2 movie tickets to use by the 31st March, which were intended for 1 movie between the two of us, but ended up being 2 movies for me.
On Wednesday night I got out to see The Hunger Games. Now I haven’t read the book(s), and wasn’t actually aware they existed until very very recently, but I really enjoyed the movie. Jennifer Lawrence does really well playing the antagonist Katniss Everdeen, with a very believable performance. The story contains many a Christian parallel as well, some more obvious than others. The scenery, and in fact all of the photography, within the film is quite beautiful, and the camera movement portrayed the action and chaos really well. The topic of the film is quite brutal, so it’s surprising that the film is only PG-13 rated, but I think the camera shots help drop the rating.
On Thursday night I got out to see Wrath of the Titans. This was a less enjoyable film, however still quite interesting. Greek Mythology is one of those interesting topics, and I think most people know parts of it. I thought it interesting in the film that most of the people knew all these things about mythology, and wonder why we Christians don’t seem to have the same knowledge of the bible…

Friday was a hectic day, with plenty of things to be done, printed and put together. I always find it harder working within other peoples time-frames… Touch got a good 12 people along. I don’t think I put down any tries this week, and I was feeling fairly sluggish on the field… I really should work a bit more on fitness… SALT was just an average night, though I did finally get to launch the website, something that I’ve been working on and procrastinating over for a good number of months now… It’s currently in a working state, and live at www.saltyouth.com. There’s still a bit of work to be done on the site, but I’m happy with the current layout and content. I’m also hoping to throw some fun bits and pieces into the site, perhaps an easter egg or two…

Saturday was pretty long, with a couple of parties to get to.
First off was Steve & Nicky’s Engagement Party, out in Box Hill. It was a gorgeous day; great for a drive out to the ‘country’… The party hosted a range of guests, from youth kids to grandparents and everyone in between. I ended up taking photos semi-officially, and thus kind of hid behind my camera for most of the day. I did manage to speak to a number of the older echelon of the guests, which was enjoyable.
Second party was Lauren’s 21st, up in Hornsby Heights, backing on to bushland… There were a great deal of people who had attended the previous engagement and so there was a bit more diversity amongst conversations, which I thought was good. I did leave kind of early, having exhausted my ‘quota’ for conversation…

This morning I got to read chapter 11 of Hebrews with Nic. It was a great reminder of those who have gone before us in the faith, and their trust in God, despite their weaknesses and failings.
Tonight at graceat6 Mike preached from 2 Samuel 11&12 in kind of a 2 part sermon. The first part was a telescopic view, pointing out that the pattern of the bible, to this point, was of promise, met with pain; covenants met with compromise, and this was to create tension, showing that man is unreliable and incapable of good things, and that is the reason why we need Jesus.
The second part was examining 2 Samuel 11&12 under a microscope, specifically looking at sexual sin. Mike gave us 6 tips to safeguard ourselves against committing sexual sin:

1. Keep giving yourself to the work of the LORD
2. Be careful with what we look at
3. Heed the warning of Jesus (Matthew 5:27-28)
4. Fight for Superior Happiness
5. Remember God is watching
6. Remember that Sin always is life destroying

There were a couple of things that happened on tonight around and after church which meant that my joy was turned to sorrow, I’m not going to go into them though, and that’s why this is being posted so late…