Brackets & Jam, moving to Melbourne & other stuff

I have been very busy with Brackets & Jam organising a big event that was on the 28th May then we went for a smaller event on the 18th of June which I helped prepare for but didn't attend as I was still recovering from the 28th. Both went really well with up to 200 people there & probably about 400 during the day for the first event with rap, local children dancing, Brazilian dance, music & martial arts displays (Capoiera), a choir singing folk songs (Voices from the Vacant Lot), Sydney Samba School playing lots of drums & a jazz band; & 100-150 for the 2nd which was a smaller, quieter, less publicised indoor gig since some of the neighbours complained about the noise of the first gig & we were a bit worn out.

On the 19th I flew to Melbourne until the 23rd to catch up with friends. Then I came back & I play bass in church next Sunday, then fly to Mackay that afternoon to go to the funeral of a friend of mine, finally back in Sydney on Wednesday the 29th. He was a really amazing guy who managed always to stay positive in the face of extreme suffering who I originally booked the flight to visit before he died, so at least I got to talk to him & he knew I was coming up to visit.

Also I preached 3 Sundays ago, just 10 minutes in between 2 others on how God sees us, but it was good to be back in the pulpit (not that we actually have one). I've only preached 2 other times in the last 4 years (I used to average about once a year).

I've been getting continuously better from CFS but it is apparent to me that while I live at home I am affected by an inner vow that says "I must look after the needs of others but I MUST NOT look after my own needs while I live at home" or something like that. Although I've repented of it, it is obvious that every time I move away from home or travel I become really well organised & efficient & able to look after myself but when I am at home in my mum's house (even though she spends a lot of her time up at Crescent Head) I become pathologically disorganised & have very great difficulty looking after my own needs. I realised this some time ago but I couldn't afford to move out of home while on the pension & living in Sydney, so I've decided to move to Melbourne & am looking at becoming a "lead tenant" in some sort of group household.

Also I want to get back into studying, finish my upgrade to a B.Min., do a Grad.Dip.Theology which the have at Melbourne Tabor which is the only post grad. theology course I know of that I can do from a B.Min. instead of starting a B.Theology from scratch, then think about a Masters in Theology. As my health improves so my concentration & short term memory improves & I'm hoping my healing will proceed at a pace allowing me to keep up with the above plan as my brain improves back to what it used to be (or maybe better, God does things like that). My long term life goal is to teach in the bible college in S.E. Asia a friend of mine wants to establish as I believe teaching a firm foundation in the gospel of grace to pastors from throughout Asia will probably fulfill my old dream of what I wanted to do with my life, being good works for the kingdom of God that keep bearing good fruit for at least the next 400 years. More recently I decided I'd be content with being a friend of Jesus, but I still want to teach grace in a college in S.E.Asia. I think it will have an effect on world history both because of the population & that is where the next great superpowers will come from. It might be a long time before the lingua franca is Mandarin or Hindi, although Japanese certainly has a place for business people, but when it does I want there to be a lot of Asian pastors firmly rooted in the gospel of grace.

Blessings,
Joe :-)