Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

I went to the snow last Wednesday after not being on the slopes for perhaps 10 years. I wasn’t sure if I would still be able to remain upright on a snowboard.

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It turns out that snowboarding is a bit like riding a bike. Whatever skills you had comes back to you. Now, I was never a good snowboarder – I could make my way down heelside but I had never learnt toeside. So on Wednesday, I was still the girl slowly sliding down but I was mighty pleased that my body remembered how to keep my butt off the slope.

By the way, A Tale of Two Melbournes is almost upon us! Have you submitted your photo yet for your chance to win a year’s worth of tickets to Candlelight Productions show?

Cheers and God bless!

Sunday Sketches

Sunday Sketches is back! This is from a sermon on Deuteronomy 6.

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By the way, if you haven’t heard about what’s going on in Federation Square during Fringe festival, check A Tale of Two Melbournes out! There is also a photo competition running so get your camera clicking and enter to win a year’s worth of free tickets to Candlelight shows!

Cheers and God bless!

Some say…

…that he’s never seen a flower before.

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Cheers and God bless!

Alexandra Zvi

A little while ago the amazingly talented designer, Alexandra Zvi, asked me to be her makeup artist for her own headshots by John E Photography. Isn’t she gorgeous?

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Click for more photos

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Check out her work at her Etsy store!

Cheers and God bless!

Smells like candy

It’s hard to concentrate when my kitchen smells like candy.

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Cheers and God bless!

What happens when my brain throws in the towel

Last night, I knew that it was time to hit the sack when I misread ‘reciprocal’ as ‘leprechaun’.

I remember this one time, when I was in second year uni or so, I spent all day reading difficult, academic material. I think I was behind on all my literature, linguistics and theatre and drama studies readings and I decided that I would get them all done in one day. So I read them all in about 8 or 9 hours, then went to a Bible study soon after. As I looked at the words in my Bible, it looked like this:

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I could recognise that the letters on the page were of the English alphabet and that they formed word blocks because of the spacing, but beyond that, I couldn’t understand anything. I might as well be reading Russian. I found that when I tried to read the words, I could kind of string the sounds together and then I would suddenly realise what the word was. For example, I’d look really hard at the word, remember that ‘w’ sounds like ‘wuer’ and ‘or’ sounds like ‘oooooh’ and ‘sh’ sounds like ‘shhhh’ and ‘i’ sounds like ‘eee’ and ‘p’ like ‘puh’ and it would suddenly hit me that it’s ‘worship’. I felt like I had some extreme form of dyslexia.

I went home wrecked that night, got some sleep and was fine the next morning. But that’s going to be the last time I try reading extremely difficult things for 9 hours straight without a break because clearly, I fried something in my brain that day and I’m in no hurry to repeat that experience ever again.

Cheers and God bless!

Gilmore Girls and a lesson in faith

I’ve always had a soft spot for Gilmore Girls and over the past few weeks I keep remembering a particular scene. For those of you who don’t know the show, all you need to know is that Lorelai is a single mother of a teenager, Rory. They live relatively comfortably except when unexpected huge bills need to be paid. In this particular episode, Rory goes behind her mother’s back and asks their wealthy grandparents for money to fix their termite-ridden house. When Lorelai finds out, she is very angry. What I’ve been mulling on over the past weeks is her explanation of exactly why she is angry:

Lorelai: Rory, have you ever been without food or clothes or books or book covers for that matter or anything else you ever needed?

Rory: No.

L: No, and see, the reason for that is me. I have a pretty good track record for keeping you alive.

R: Yeah, you do.

L: So when I tell you I can handle something, you need to respect that, especially since you have no evidence proving I won’t. Understand?

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Here, Lorelai is not angrybecause Rory has got the money and Lorelai hasn’t. Lorelai is angry because Rory does not trust her to provide for her needs and failed to show her the trust and respect she has earned from providing for Rory her whole life. When I think about it, isn’t this what God feels when I refuse to trust Him for my needs? I look at all the things that I think I need, and I go about getting them by myself, for myself. I think I need security, so I use my own wisdom to get it. I think I need money, so I use my own strength to get it. I think I need success, so I do whatever I think is necessary to get it. In the process, I have shown God disrespect because I didn’t trust Him enough to provide for me. Essentially, I am telling Him I don’t think you’re capable of providing for me. I can’t help but feel that Lorelai’s response is very similar to what God might say:

Shirlaine, have you ever been without food or clothes or books or book covers for that matter or anything else you ever needed? See, the reason for that is me. I have a pretty good track record for keeping you alive. So when I tell you I can handle something, you need to respect that, especially since you have no evidence proving I won’t. Understand?

Cheers and God bless!