Brighter Horizons : uts

I'm in Sunny Cessnock!

walshy — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 09:01:33 GMT

If you've been wondering why I've been mysteriously absent for the past week, wonder no longer! I've been on NTE.

For those of you who don't know, NTE stands for "National Training Event". It's put on every year by AFES for Christian uni students. This year over 1200 of us (from as far away as Perth, Nth Queensland, Hobart and Fiji) met up in Canberra for the 5-day conference, before being sent out on mission for another 5-days.

My mission team consists of 10 people from Credo (the Christian group at UTS), and we're spending the rest of the week helping out the West Cessnock Congregational Church. This is my 4th time up to Cessnock, and I'm still struck by the joy and generosity of the church members, who all so graciously billet us and feed us.

Tomorrow we're visiting the local high school, taking over the local radio station for 2 hours, and running the church youth group. On Saturday we're putting on a carols service for the whole town in the Hunter Valley Gardens. And on Sunday we are running both of the church's services.

Please pray for the whole mission team as we work to pull-off these events, and share the gospel with as many people as possible. Pray that God will be working in people's hearts, to open them up to the good news of Jesus. And please pray for me also, as I do a 10min talk on the radio, and give my testimony during the carols service.

I'll post some more on NTE, as well as some pictures, when I return to Sydney.

I'm a Graduate Pending!!!

walshy — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 02:49:00 GMT

That's right! Yesterday was my last exam.... EVER! We'll, until I start my CA at least. But for now I'm happy to say forever!

So what do I do now? It's so weird watching TV and not feeling guilty that you should be doing something. Ah well... I'm sure I'll get over it!

Here's to my last (and first come to think of it) uni-length holiday!

PS. "Blogs worth a Read" has now been replaced by "What I've been Reading" - a selection of the more interesting blog posts I've read recently. Post something good on your own blog and you might just show up there :) - Yes Doug, I made this change for you!

An Ode to Baccs

walshy — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 13:07:00 GMT

Fame! We will account forever,
Light up the world with our minds.
Fame! We will account forever,
Sponsors remember our names.
(remember... remember... remember)

So begins the anthem of the 2006 Baccs.... arguably the most audacious song ever to be performed by white-clad accountants on the streets of Sydney - in 2004 at least!

Baccs in White

And perform it we did! Along with such classics as Abba's "Dancing Queen", "I still call Australia Home", and - 'cause it was Valentines Day - Greece "Summer nights".

And what did we get for our troubles? The entire day of busking (at Town Hall, Martin Place and Pitt St Mall, among others) yielded us an amazing 40c. I did the gracious things and let them keep my 1.3793c share.

Ok, so perhaps we weren't the best singers of all time... judge for yourself:

The crazy lecturer in the above clip is Frank "touch two things" Portelli. His crazy teaching methods, including "nap time", handshake practice and a lot of shouting, had most of us wondering why we'd decided to give up 6 weeks of our post-HSC holidays.

All-in-all though, the 6 weeks turned out to be an awesome way to start an otherwise fairly-boring degree. And most importantly, I got to know a truly great bunch of people.

If you ask me what my greatest regret from my 3 years in Bacc is, I'd say this: That I didn't put the effort into keeping most of these friendships going. And I didn't make nearly enough of the opportunities I had to tell them about the grace and forgiveness that we've found in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's so easy to get lost at uni under the piles of work. And it's so easy to crawl into a hole with your "comfy" Christian friends. But the uni is a mission field, and before you know it, your time's up and you're witting silly odes! So to those of you still at uni, I say this: Get out there and spent time with your non-Christian friends, before it's too late!

Bacc Class of 2006 - I'm up the back!

An Ode to UTS

walshy — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 10:22:00 GMT

Well, 4pm today marked my final class at UTS - well 6pm did, but I skipped that one! Anyway, to celebrate the impending end of my 3-year degree, I thought I'd write a few tributes - to UTS, Baccs and Credo.

Today's installment - The UTS Tower, officially the ugliest building in Sydney:

A modern engineering marvel,
It stands aloft the streets alone,
A beacon to the lost in Newtown,
Searching for the way back home.

An affront to God himself, perhaps?
It climbs the sky and claims its space.
A modern Babel's stretch for glory,
Full of beauty, awe and grace!

But judge the book not by its cover,
Judge not a people by their cage,
Joy is found on the concourse couches,
Friends to clutch until old-age.

Ok, so it's not an ode! Poetry was never my strong point.