James Cuénod's Newsletter 2011-11-21

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To those interested who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is just a quick one (at the commencement of its writing) to tell you
that last Friday I wrote my final exam. The internet connection has been
sketchy for a few weeks now and is making emails difficult but I just
wanted to thank you for prayers and support and say woohoo! The exams were
fine but by the end I was sick of them so I'm glad they're over. This
coming week has the college social, the graduation service, final chapel
and college cleanup so there are a few things to keep us busy. I've also
got to pack up my room and move my stuff to the place I'm staying next
year and use my parents to boost Cape Town's tourism industry.

I guess I'll send another email during the holidays but for now, I'm just
trying to recover from a whole lot of studying and assignments and not a
whole lot of sleep and relaxation (which is turning out to be a long
forgotten yet pleasant endeavour on the whole).

In Christ,
James Cuénod

--
James, a bondslave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
http://www.rekindle.co.za

James Cuénod's Newsletter 2011-11-12

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To those interested who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

One of the great things about receiving my newsletter is that you get
whatever random fact I happen to have most recently discovered. In this
case, that the earth travels in its orbit around the sun at about
29.17km/s. So when the earth has travelled another fifteen and a half
million kilometers (that's not just a wild number I threw out by the way),
I will have completed my last exam. However, when I calculate that I
realise that there are some slightly bigger things at play than my exams.

So yes, I have written my first exam (yesterday) it was Philosophy and I
think it went alright. Philosophy has been one of the courses that I've
enjoyed the most over this last semester. Next week I have three more
exams: Monday brings Doctrine of Holy Spirit and Salvation; Wednesday,
African Church History and Friday, Jesus and the Gospels. Somehow I
managed to hand in all my assignments over the last month of craziness
though I wish I'd had more time to digest and engage in some of them we
were rushing towards exams (at 29.17km/s) though, so I think everyone was
just churning them out.

I feel like there is a war in my mind. Living there would be living in
occupied territory (though something new invades at the end of every
assignment or exam), when nothing is there it descends into civil war.
Rest is strictly rationed and the dregs of motivation can only be
scrounged from dodgy parts of town.

To keep myself sane I have done some reading (The Curious Incident of the
Dog in the Night-Time, The Great Divorce and a bit more of the Hobbit, The
Three Musketeers, Introduction to Covenant Theology and Exegetical
Fallacies). Writing that parenthesis, I feel I should just say that in the
last four, I've only read the first two - the others I'm working through
slowly and read when my brain rebels from taking in any more information.

Thank you very much for the prayers, as I've said; I handed everything in.
There has also been significant progress regarding next year's
accomodation; I'll be staying with one of the other guys doing honours
whose been in res with me since 1st year. We're moving into another
student's flat because he's graduating with us this year and moving to
Rondebosch. This takes off quite a bit of pressure.

I'm still dreading the coming exams though. Please have me in your prayers
for this last week. I can't believe it's graduation so soon, I didn't even
realise that it was our last day of college until it was nearly over.
Diligence, motivation and perseverance are what I need now to make it
through the last stretch. Considering the way I started this email though,
please also pray that if not while I'm writing, at the very least after
I'm finished, my perspective would be broadened from the present inward
looking assignment to assignment type survival thing that's going on right
now. I will leave you with a quote that I found while reading for my
Isaiah assignment (in the preface of Alec Motyer's IVP Isaiah commentary):
As I look back now, and particularly over the intensive activity of the
last three years, there rises unbidden the picture of a very small mouse
nibbling heroically at a very large cheese. Indeed it is no picture but a
reality, and now that all is at last done, like Reepicheep of Narnia
(though, please God, without his endearing bumptiousness), I too lay my
sword at the feet of him who alone is worthy of all praise, the Servant of
the Lord, the reigning King and the coming Anointed Conqueror, Jesus
Christ our Lord.

In Christ,
James Cuénod

--
James, a bondslave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
http://www.rekindle.co.za

James Cuénod's Newsletter 2011-10-11

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To those interested who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

t lttl tm: hv t lv smthng t ...

I'm feeling the pressure of the final stretch and my ears are popping, I'm
getting to the point at which I have to leave something out.
Six assignments
Five exams
Six weeks
and third year is over.

It feels like yesterday when I wrote my first newsletter and I'm a few
weeks from graduation (assuming things don't go too pear shaped). Two
weekends ago I preached, I helped at an evangelism workshop, I went to the
old SRC farewell lunch type thing, I wrote an assignment, I practiced some
music (because last week I played piano - which was not a total failure,
so I was satisfied - the old pianist can have his job back though!).
Basically everything demands a lot of time and I don't have a lot of time
to devote to everything.

This Friday I'm handing in an assignment for Spirit and Salvation, I've
chosen the topic "The Spirit's Work of Illumination in the Life of a
Believer" because I'm a masochist and enjoy enormous readings of Barth and
his critics.

If I ever go insane, I imagine it would be under circumstances similar to
these.

I don't think insanity is a likely outcome so that needn't be a prayer
item but certainly finishing strong, actually spending time being mastered
by the Word rather than trying to master it all the time and perseverance
are all things I would appreciate your prayer for.

It's not long to go
bt i dnt hv tm t wrt mr, thts wh m lvng t th vwls. ttfn.

In Christ,
James Cuénod

--
James, a bondslave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
http://www.rekindle.co.za

James Cuénod's Newsletter 2011-09-12

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To those interested who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Have you ever had the experience in which something happens, such as a
glass is knocked off a counter and as it falls, everything seems to be in
slow motion and suddenly you've caught it as though you've got fantastic
super powers? Well, I'm watching the glass fall I just hope at the end of
the year it looks like I have super powers...

The term ended quite suddenly with the SRC handover being pushed earlier
by a week. I'm quite relieved that I no longer have that responsibility,
it's quite a weight off one's shoulders. The new guy in charge is pretty
good and I think he'll do a quality job. The organisation of the handover
(with elections and nominations and everything that goes with it) was not
the only thing that contributed to a sudden term end, I also preached for
class from Judges 6. I was inspired to start preparing for it a few weeks
earlier than I would have when I saw the other guy preaching the same
passage take out commentaries. That was good. I have since discovered that
Judges is possibly one of the most misunderstood and least accurately
preached (if preached at all) book in the whole Bible. It took me about a
week of reading and re-reading the text and then the book and then
commentaries to come to the conclusion I had no idea what was going on. I
got some kind of structure eventually but it took me another two weeks to
come to some decision about what the point of it all is. Even now, I've
been studying it some more and I'm not sure. By God's grace, the sermon
went down well even though I wasn't that happy with it but it's made me
think seriously of seeing if OT Narrative or the book of Judges could
somehow be a dissertation topic for next year.

I'm on holiday now though which has been very good and I return on the
morning of the 18th. The holidays have brought the seemingly inescapable
dental work with which they have become virtually analogous. This time
it's putting a shaft into the bone to prepare for a crown (which will wait
until the next holidays). Thankfully all went well and I'm already feeling
much better. So far this holiday I've spent some time writing Bible
software with a friend from college and reading. I finished off Surprised
By Joy (by C. S. Lewis) which was a fantastic read and I read a short
biography on Byang Kato (a hugely influential evangelical African
theologian) which I read for a biographical sketch I have to put together
for class the coming term. I still need to get a fair bit of college work
done over the next few days so please keep my diligence and focus in your
prayers.

In addition to praise for smooth handover in SRC and successful dental
surgery, prayer that I would get work done this holiday and figure out
some direction for my honours topic this year; please also pray that I
would find some accommodation next year (I and the guys in res with me who
are thinking of doing honours are thinking of moving into a little flat or
something next year to escape the walls of res) and you can pray that I
would be given super powers but I feel like that might be cheating or
something.

Thanks ten to the power of six (which is a million in non-scientific
notation terms) for the support and the prayers.

In Christ,
James Cuénod

--
James, a bondslave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
http://www.rekindle.co.za

James Cuénod's Newsletter 2011-08-11

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To those interested who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

At church last Sunday I heard one of the coolest metaphors for utilitarian
Christianity's view of God (Christians who are "Christians" because of
what they get out of it): God, the divine vending machine. Maybe that's
not new to you but it was quite appropriate an analogy and I enjoyed it.
Tokai Community Church is doing a series on Jeremiah in the morning and
Job in the evening this term and the Bible studies are doing topical Bible
studies on elements from the Apostles Creed and none of that is the right
currency for the divine vending machine.

Courses at college are almost all intense and full semester courses. That
means, this term very few of our assignments are due but next term we're
going to be hammered by them if we haven't got a good head start. SRC
Elections are coming up which means my term as Residence Representative
is, and I say this with relief, fast coming to an end. It does mean that
in addition to praying that I correctly manage my time you can pray for
next year's SRC (they really have a huge role behind the scenes). I will
probably still be here next year, I've just handed in my "Application for
Continuation" form to do honours here next year with a bunch of my
classmates which is an exciting prospect. Please keep my future in your
prayers though and ask God to help me pick a research topic wisely. I'm
also in the process of applying for a bursary for next year, one of the
sections of the application asks for a few names of people who may be
willing to support me (or the college in general) and so I thought I'd ask
here if you are willing to have your name put there. The support can be
any amount, I just need to know in the next week or two. This is another
item regarding which I'd appreciate your prayer. Honours is, as I have
said an exciting thought as is the rest of the semester, though it is
quite daunting (as my degree is around the corner) and yet these too;
whether I attend every chapel, hand in every assignment and graduate magna
cum laude this is still not the appropriate currency for the divine
vending machine.

Over the long weekend I didn't do much work, I had lots of fellowship
though. A few of us went to support a girl from college on Saturday
afternoon in a dance competition (in which she absolutely dominated,
winning ballroom and latin). On Monday I went out with other friends to
Stellenbosch which was a good time and on Tuesday we had a birthday party
for one of the guys who will be staying for honours. I think one of the
biggest changes I have noticed in myself since coming to college is that I
have come to value relationships far more highly. In Work of Christ at the
beginning of the year we were shown that unity and mere friendship are
through Christ. Even being a good friend though is not a currency that
works in the divine vending machine.

Perhaps part of the problem becomes that there is no "divine vending
machine": it is a false understanding of God and the way He operates. We
don't put something in, like being a good friend or good student or good
Christian and, thereby, get something out. Rather, God in His grace gives
us every good and perfect gift - an important truth in an age of nominal
Christianity and the kind of mystic ideas that would have us believe we
can manipulate God into doing what we want.

Please pray that our lives conform to His will rather than us trying to
manipulate Him. I've put some prayer requests through the news, the future
(including post-Honours), time management (as always), wisdom for research
topic, next year's SRC and I think that's it. That's all that comes to
mind. Thanks for enduring another long newsletter.

In Christ,
James Cuénod

--
James, a bondslave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
http://www.rekindle.co.za

James Cuénod's Newsletter 2011-07-05

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To those interested who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Today's fun fact: The side of a Jacobs Krönung has stuff written in three
languages; English, Greek and Hebrew. Jacobs was made for Bible College
students! The reason I felt it necessary to preface this newsletter with
that fact is that I have that delightful aroma wafting around the study
right now and it's good to share.

Last time I mentioned the youth programme: the "SOUL" course. It finished
really well and it looks like the group has grown because of it. Every
week the main leader got a different kid to share his/her testimony (they
were prepared) and it was encouraging to hear from them. Term finished
fine, the last week is a blur but exams are now scarred into my memory.
They weren't that bad but results aren't out yet so I can't say that with
real certitude.

I've also been anticipating ministry week for some time and it was a
blast. We spent most of the days studying a passage and then preparing and
improving Bible studies from it. I think its safe to say that my group has
some idea of what to do with the story of the rich young ruler in Mark
10... I (and two other guys) also had a chance to preach. I chose to speak
from Mark 4:35-41 which is the story of Jesus calming the storm. I love
getting the chance to sit and sikkel with a passage for the time that I
had with this story. I haven't preached from plain narrative story before
and it was tough but I enjoyed it.

So now I'm on holiday, I have two weeks left in which to try to read the
King of God's Kingdom (600pg) and The Consequence of Ideas (200pg), I've
just finished Tozer's "Pursuit of God" and it was brilliant. I don't have
the whole two weeks though because next week I'm going to be helping with
the holiday club. A college friend and I are writing Bible software which
we're now trying to write with some design plan and so when I'm not
reading, I'm programming or making coffee. I love the holidays.

Lastly, I'm becoming more decided (not in any definite sort of way) in my
plan to do honours next year. I've not yet made a final decision but
that's where my thinking is going. The exciting question then becomes what
to write on (the honours course consists of a handful of courses and a
mini-dissertation, of 20000 words I think). The trouble is I like
everything. Greek is making sense and I like systematics so I could write
some sort of doctrine paper but then I feel like I'd rather spend my time
understanding what the Bible is trying to say and so do a study on Hebrews
or something. The problem is I also want to do something in the Old
Testament because I want to chance to improve my Hebrew and be an
evangelical who has looked at the Old Testament (because it's only really
liberals who do right now). A few options have come to mind but I've got
time on my side for that.

So please would you pray for finality in my decision for next year. Please
also pray that I would be able to focus in my reading during the coming
two weeks so that I get through enough of it. This coming semester looks
to be hectic (which is why I've started reading now) so I would also
appreciate your prayers for my ability to manage time and not get bogged
down too quickly (it does seem inevitable). Praise God for an awesome
ministry week though and a positive response from our host church (Trinity
Church Hilton) and thank God for His sustaining us through exams.

Now for some more coffee.
Exciting times... What? You can't end like that James: a participle is not
a finite verb!
Times is exciting.

In Christ,
James Cuénod

--
James, a bondslave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
http://www.rekindle.co.za

James Cuénod's Newsletter 2011-06-01

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To those interested who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

At this point I feel sort of like a small child with an impossibly large
MacDonalds burger. I can't really sink my teeth into everything, I'm a bit
overwhelmed but "bada ba da ba, I'm loving it". The last few weeks have
picked up in time commitment at church and assignment commitment at
college.

Life on the one half of the roll is church where I've been involved in a
few cool things. First, Christianity Explored. It's a Tuesday night dinner
aimed at non-Christians or young Christians who want to explore
Christianity and ask any questions they like. We have tables of about five
to eight for the meal and so the format is conducive to discussion which
centers around a different topic every week. It seems to be a really good
evangelism tool. Sort of coupled to that is the SOUL course on Friday
nights which is simply Christianity Explored for youth. This is going
phenomenally well; it also uses the dinner format and so we're broken down
into table groups the content is simply made more appropriate for a
younger audience. Finally, Thursday nights are still Bible Study. We've
been going through Romans and I've got to say that this Bible Study has
been such an encouragement to me for the future of Bible Studies.

The other half of the roll is college. I don't really know what to say
here other than that life goes on. Today I presented my Ethics III paper
on "Deceit in Gameplay" which was fairly well received. It was quite an
enjoyable assignment, it has just taken away time that I needed to finish
off the term's work before hitting exams which are looming large all of a
sudden. The end looks to be a killer but focus is shifting from work this
term to ministry week. I've got a sermon to prepare as well as a couple of
Bible studies.

The meat and stuff in the middle has been a rebirth of some of our former
glory days as far as society goes. We've had a bunch of good social times
in the last while which, it seems to me, is one of the best things about
being at college.

Please pray that I'm really grown by the work of this term. I suppose that
until next year you can pray for me about next year and, really, the
following years. Time has been scarce so please pray that devotion is the
word that characterises devotions for me. Thank you and enjoy the chips.

In Christ,
James Cuénod

--
James, a bondslave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
http://www.rekindle.co.za

James Cuénod's Newsletter 2011-04-30

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To those interested who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I remember when time meandered its way through an afternoon. I recall days
when I used to do whatever took my fancy. The holidays were almost like
that; I had plenty of work to get through during that week - I just
didn't. So, arriving back I had to catch up on the stuff that I had due.
I've handed in assignments, started a new course, I've even done an exam.

I imagine that the outcome of the exam is of some interest. It was for
"Work of Christ" and the scope was enormous. The subject was lectured by
Robert Doyle, a guy out from Moore College in Australia. It has been one
of my favourite courses thus far. Last term I wrote an essay for it
researching the cry of dereliction ("My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?") and in what sense Jesus was forsaken. I really enjoyed the essay and
it was meticulously examined which I appreciated because the notes on my
essay will be very helpful in trying to improve my writing and
researching. Regarding the exam though, I was a bit nervous going in, I
had been particularly interested in one aspect of the course and had
studied it more carefully (the extent of the atonement, if you're
interested) and - to my great delight - it came up.

The exam was last Tuesday and it seems like the third years have largely
been measuring time in BE and AE (Before Exam, After Exam). We did,
however, have a good break beginning on Good Friday. I read C. S. Lewis'
"Till We Have Faces" in the break which was pretty cool. I'm not really a
big novel reader but I enjoyed it. Lewis is cool because even if you don't
like reading, you can manage his books which are easy reading, engaging
and - best of all - short (it makes you feel like you've accomplished
something). I went to a Passover meal at Muizenberg Community Church and
then I went to the Easter services at Tokai Community Church (which, I'm
not sure whether I've mentioned, is my placement church this year). By the
way, I can recommend Easter with a fresh slice of "Work of Christ" on your
mind. Those time filled days are now gone though.

I must admit; I don't know how many weeks of term remain, I don't know how
many assignments are coming up, basically I don't know what's going on in
the near future with regards to college. What I do know is that the Fun
Run is happening on the 7th of May (I'm not down to run but I'm hoping to
change that - although I feel like I should be nearby after they nearly
burnt down the pavilion by overloading an extension cord as soon as I
turned my back - it's like a conspiracy) and then, the end of the term
brings with it not only exams but ministry week which promises to be
fantastic.

Ah one last matter which weaseled its way out of the foreground of my mind
is that of the melting pot. The melting pot is a nearby cafe type bar
thingy-do (that's right "thingy-do" is actually a technical term, look it
up). On Wednesday they have "open mic night" and on Thursday they have
"blow-your-eardrums-out-it's-too-loud reggae" (I wonder if that means I'm
getting old). Now you may be expecting me to say that I am now famous.
This is not the case. I have, thus far, spared the world my unspeakable
talent. A few college guys have been going there though (to perform and to
listen) and it is beginning to turn into a great witnessing opportunity.

On a slightly different note, I would appreciate your prayers. I've got
mounds of work that would rival Mugg 'n Bean muffins, I have
administrative stuff to do for things like ministry week, SRC and the Fun
Run, there's that looming question of what will become of me next year and
in the midst of all that stuff I'd kind of like to be reading my Bible,
praying and - just generally - being a Christian. So, with particular
emphasis on the last bit, please would you keep me in your prayers. This
would be appreciated considerably more than the aforementioned muffins.

I think that as time went on in my writing of this newsletter my mind
became more frivolous - I just reread a part of it and thought, "that's
what comes of putting the word meandered into the opening sentence James,
you need to just calm down with your verbage".

In addition, I hope that this Newsletter made you smile as much as it made
me wonder about whether or not I am in a regular state of mind for a human
being. My insanity, for your amusement.

By the indelible grace of God,
In Christ,
James Cuénod

--
James, a bondslave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
http://www.rekindle.co.za

James Cuénod's Newsletter 2011-04-02

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To those interested who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I must begin by saying that I am sincerely sorry that I have not sent out
a newsletter in the last month. Time to write and send newsletters has
consistently eluded me especially over the last couple of weeks.

The most recent in my recollection of work for GWC has been an assignment
for "The Work of Christ" which, for me, was an essay on Jesus' being
forsaken and what that means. I must say, it has been one of the most
beneficial essays that I have written at college; it was one of the
assignments that, once finished, leaves you loving Jesus more. I felt
privileged to be doing it. I've had assignments for just about every
subject though and so time studying and writing has been exhausting. One
other 'assignment' that I should comment on is preaching in class. I had
to preach a parable from Matthew and so I chose to preach on the parable
of the unforgiving servant (from Matthew 18) and I felt that it went well
(and I mention it because I had an awesome time doing it).

In spite of the busyness, I have had the chance to do a few other things.
I visited YWAM a few weeks ago which was interesting as GWC doesn't have
much to do with them and so it was a good chance to meet with them. They
had a missionary from China do a talk encouraging people to go to China
but don't worry, I'm not feeling pulled very strongly in that direction.
GWC has just had their annual lecture, Peter Jensen (a big-shot from
Australia) was the guest speaker and he had some thought-provoking things
to say.

I also went through to the city to see the wildlife photo exhibition; in
first year I went to the WWF Wildlife Photographer of the Year display and
it was a treat so I took the opportunity to do so again. It did not
disappoint but as I think about the photos, I realise that no photo can
truly capture the grandeur of its subject. On Friday the 1st TGIF Cape
Town (an early morning meeting around a talk which is aimed at thinking
Christian business people) began, the topic was beauty and I was reminded
that the beauty of this world is only pointing to that of the next.

A bunch of the guys at college have recently started taking advantage of
the diversity of culture and minds available and we have been meeting to
talk about African Theology (a relevant topic given our context). I have
found these discussions incredibly stimulating lately and I've added this
interest to my thoughts about the future. Speaking of the future, please
keep that in your prayers. I'm home for the holidays right now so I'll
have some more discussion with my parents, doing honours has recently
popped more strongly into my radar. I'll be going down to KZN for ministry
week though which promises to be good. I'm leading a team to my uncle's
church in Hilton and hopefully I'll leave there with some more direction
regarding next year.

Please keep ministry week and plans for the future in your prayers. I've
got a pile of work to do in this break (which is only the next week) and
then I have an even busier term to look forward to. Please pray that
college work would keep pointing away from itself rather than drawing
attention away from its glorious subject. This year has been challenging
but exciting, so please pray that I would be enthralled by the studies
because of their goal.

Finally, thank you for reading my newsletters.

In Christ who saved me!
James Cuénod

--
James, a bondslave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
http://www.rekindle.co.za

James Cuénod's Newsletter 2011-02-15

James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To those interested who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I trust that this email will find you well. Over the December holidays
(really the January holidays), by God's unfailing grace, I turned 21.
That's a lifespan more than 500 times that of a worker bee and I haven't
harvested a drop of nectar. I did, however, have the privilege of
preaching during the holidays to the Honeyridge youth group and in the
main service. I relished the chance to expound God's word and thoroughly
enjoyed it. God's Word is sweeter than honey.

The holidays flew by swiftly but I managed to do some reading and see a
number of people. Somehow things that I wanted to do still slipped through
the cracks though. Nevertheless, the holidays drew to a close with
unexpected abruptness when I realised that I had a few SRC
responsibilities to take care of before returning but all in all, the
Christmas period was a much needed and appreciated break from college life.

Upon returning we didn't get much of a chance to get into gear and the SRC
were at work immediately, welcoming new students (especially the ones
moving into college residences) and preparing for commencement camp.
Commencement camp is an annual event which marks the start of the regular
timetable after summer school (a.k.a Greek/Hebrew week). I've always
enjoyed commencement camp although this one was particularly hectic
because of my involvement during the time leading up to it and during the
actual camp. During summer school, those of us who have done Greek and
Hebrew, were lectured on Galatians, 2 Corinthians, Luke and Revelation by
Paul Barnett. The lectures were good but somewhat rushed.

The fact that internet connectivity for me has been reduced (which will
hopefully change in the near future) coupled with my 25 hour day schedule
has delayed this newsletter by a couple of weeks so I'm kind of relieved
to be writing it right now. I'm realising how true it is that Satan
delights in a "busy" person, it's much easier to persuade him not to be
over-devoted to devotions.

Please redouble your prayer efforts as this term - in fact, this year
looks to be an intense workload. Pray for diligence in studies and, more
importantly, for spiritual growth to match any intellectual growth. I'm
also not certain which church I will be attending this year, it looks very
much like Tokai Community Church is the best option but please ask God to
make it clear.

The coming year excites me, the following year confounds me and the future
humbles me. Grace alone.

In Christ,
James Cuénod

--
James, a bondslave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
http://www.rekindle.co.za