I came over to Sydney from Fiji without Dawn and the kids so that I could take a medical recertification exam tomorrow. (Intense prayer for my success tomorrow around 9am Australian EST encouraged!) I miss Dawn and the kids but I also enjoy a few days to walk around a new place and do what I call a "Bill Bryson". If you've read his books you know he just takes off with only a general idea of his direction, meeting new people and seeing what's interesting without spending alot of money.
I've only had one full day in Sydney- but what a Sunday it was. I got up early yesterday and took the train ($5 round trip) out to the suburb where Hillsongs Church is located. The church provides a bus from the train station for all visitors. Waiting there with me were Christians from all over the world coming to worship at this church that has been so influential worldwide. In a way, we were modern pilgrims visiting a site of God's activity. I met people from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Seattle, the Phillipines, Sri Lanka and Holland- not to mention all the Aussies. Worship was inspirational and the pastor's message can be summed up as follows: Life and God are about relationships with other humans and with Him- just as Jesus dared to associate with lepers, we need to reach out to socially isolated people with love- he recommended that the best way to make friends was to be humble and friendly. I applied these principles to the rest of my day with great results!
I returned downtown around lunchtime and ate a whole, grilled Barramundi on the waterfront ($30) while studying a bit. I then bought a Sydney Harbor ferry day pass ($16) and spent the afternoon cruising through hundreds of sailboats and past the Sydney icons. The Sydney Harbor bridge and the opera house are beautiful from the water. While boarding the ferry I met a very nice woman from Atlanta, GA who commented on my Auburn bag with, "I'm a Dawgs fan". The accent was music to my ears. She travels to Sydney a good bit with work and, with true Southern hospitality, gave me great advice on which ferry has the best views. After visiting Manley Beach (where Keith and Nicole reportedly have their Australian home) I was sitting on the return ferry next to two young ladies speaking a funny sounding German. It ended up that it was Swiss-German they were speaking and that one of them was finishing the 3 year Bible college at Hillsongs. To underscore the small-world feeling even more- she is marrying a Maori man from Whangarei in a few months and probably moving there so her husband can be a pastor. Choice!
The day only got better with dinner. I had the privilege of dining with nearly life-long Sydneysider and author Roy Williams. You may recall from an earlier blog entry that he has written the book God, Actually. He has such great insight into the postChristian, materialistic mindset of Aussies and Americans. He also has keen political awareness. It was like having dinner with an old friend as we shared surprisingly similar stories. He just received the good news that an English company is buying the American rights to his book. Please pray for this book's success in America- I wish well for Roy, but, most importantly, I think his well reasoned explanation of a skeptic's path to faith in God can connect to wealthy, successful American couples in a unique, powerful and life-changing way. We both agreed that if any good can come out of the current financial crisis it is that people will realize God made us to do our life's work not just to accumlate wealth- but to provide basic necessities for our families and to express love to Him and to the people around us. For an exhaustive treatise on this subject read Ecclesiastes in its entirety.
Alas, I did come here ostensibly for work. So today is a study day- with a museum or two thrown in for good measure.
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