| 11:04p |
The Story!
Okay, guys, this is it! That thing that I was going to write about, but didn't get around to doing for awhile! "Hurrah," I hear you all cry!
Well, I've started going to a new church. I don't know if you think that that is interesting or cool, but it's been a really important thing to me, and I wanted to share it with you guys.
I had to leave my old church in Petersham about two months ago, which was quite sad. It was too far away from my home, and I felt bad making Roanne drive me and two other people there every week (even though she never ever said she didn't want to- quite the opposite, actually). I also wanted to get really involved with the church, like I wanted to help lead youth group and I wanted to go to Bible study, but I couldn't because of the distance.
It was hard leaving. I dreaded it for a long time, and prayed about it a lot. It was the second time I had to change churches within the same year, and it's a sad thing to have to do. You see, before I became a Christian (before I was eighteen), I used to go to church at Easter and Christmas time, as well as when I wanted God to know that I still thought about Him occasionally. The services always made me want to have a relationship with Jesus, but it all seemed like too much of a commitment. Plus it seemed weird. Like, why should I follow the example of this guy I had never met before, and who might not have existed at all? It all seemed like a fairy tale to me, told in this sing-songy voice.
But as I reached the end of high school, I became this rather crazy over-achiever. I'd study so much that even my parents would tell me to go out more! I was so ambitious about everything, and the thing that I wanted the most was to get into the Visual Communications degree at UTS. And you needed to get a UAI of over 95 to get in. But after I finished high school and got my four little numbers, I realised that I'd wasted so much of my time. I got into my course, but I'd missed out on so many other things. My relationships with my family and my friends were in pieces, because I'd pushed them all away in my pursuit to be the best. I was older than my years in terms of intellect, but in terms of life experience, I was way behind my friends. But most of all, I felt terrible for having ignored God for so long. I decided to investigate Christianity more.
During a tour of Europe, we stopped over at the Vatican, and it might sound silly, but I was shocked to find out that one of Jesus' disciples of the Bible was actually buried there. He was real! All of the times I had been at church, I had never stopped to even consider that Peter and Paul or John or anyone, really, was real. I began to pray to God, and ask Him if He was real. I remember walking through Pisa, and asking God in my mind, "How do I know if you really love me? You keep saying that you do, but how can you love me?" I felt like I'd been so awful to Him in so many ways- I'd ignored Him, plus I'd spent a lot of time being rude to people who annoyed me, and making fun of people who I didn't like. As I was walking along, I looked up at this telegraph pole and saw this big sign nailed to the top of it. It was an illustration of Jesus, and at the bottom of the sign it said this: "JESUS TI AMO", which I think is "Jesus Loves You" in Italian.
Anyway, over the years, I have come to understand who Jesus was. There is so much historical evidence to prove that He really did exist. I have been extremely moved by His teaching- to be generous and loving and kind, but most of all, to love God and understand His love for us. I think that it is so amazing that the God of the universe came and lived amongst us as a human and had to do all sorts of gross stuff, like going to the toilet. And that He came down because He loved us and wanted us to know that.
So anyway, I started going to church regularly. Before I was a regular churchgoer, I used to think that it was really annoying and weird when people I didn't know would come up to talk to me after church services. I really wasn't interested in letting strangers be part of my life- especially strangers who felt sorry for me because I didn't know anyone there. But as I grew as a Christian, I learnt that going to church isn't something that makes you a good person. Church was actually a place where people could help you, and where you could make friends, and where people were really eager to demonstrate God's love. I also learnt that we're not supposed to be isolated from one another!
So that's why it was hard for me to leave my churches in Denistone East and Petersham last year. The people there had become my family, and they'd been there for me through so many hard times. There were people who had prayed for me, people who had made me feel special, people who wanted me to be the best person (not the best student or designer) that I could possibly be.
But even though it was scary to leave, I'm really glad that I'm going to a new church. My new church is in Gladesville. It's very different from the one in Petersham. I like how they are both different, though. I go to the evening service at my new church, and there are quite a few people there who are my age. The sermons really inspire, encourage and motivate me to read the Bible more, tell others the good news about Jesus, and to truly love other people. It's really nice to start afresh at a new place- for once, this is a church where I have no personal baggage attached! I don't think that I've cried once over a boy there! I also started going to Bible study at Russell's place last Wednesday. It's really cool! There's a group of about six of us, and this couple called Liz and Dan lead it. We read through a passage in the Bible, and Liz or Dan ask us questions about it as a group, and we discuss what the passage says. We also pray together.
So there you go! That was what I wanted to write about. You guys knew that I was a Christian from a lot of the things that I write and talk about, and I guess I wanted to explain more about what my life as a Christian is like. Because being a Christian is such a wonderful privilege, a privilege that is offered to each and every one of us. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
Meanwhile, on Planet Carla in the past few days, here are the things that have been occupying my mind:
*Stencil grafitti- though of course not on walls, silly. I've gone a bit nutso over this stencil of hearts I made, and I spray-painted the hearts onto my organiser, this new folder I bought, my new Bible, my cutting mat, two of my sketchpads, and a whole lot of paper.
*Went out to The Lounge with my pal Jonathan on Friday night, and it's very scruffy and chilled and cool. I felt like it was a place Jo Stockton from "Funny Face" would have hung out at. I also expected to turn around and see a character from Shag's paintings being all groovy behind me.
*I've been so sleepy lately that I haven't noticed that it's hot! My Britney eye-makeup look also never fails me on sleepy weekend mornings.
*I invented a new diet. It's called the Anti-Zone Diet. You know the Zone Diet? Jennifer Aniston's on it- basically you don't ever eat carbohydrates, because by doing that, your body burns its own fat instead of the carbs, thus making you skinnier. It's really bad for you, because you'll get heaps of complications in your body when you're older. Plus it gives you freakishly thin arms. So I invented the Anti-Zone diet, where basically you can only eat carbohydrates. So you can only eat cake, pancakes, muffins, bread, bananas, pasta, potatoes and that sort of thing. The Anti-Zone Diet sort of evolved out of my eating-cake-for-lunch thing. I guess it's not very good for you either, though. But it does make me smile a little.
*There is possibly a new holiday coming up with Meg and Jono!
*Blowing bubbles. It's especially fun to walk up to the top of the Town Hall Steps and blow bubbles down where people walk up from the train station, because people look all confused, mystified and then cheered up.
Stay tuned- loads more adventures coming up. Every day is a gift. |