Six months in, and I don’t know where to begin. In the past several weeks there have been so many moments that I consider to be climactic. I can’t squeeze everything into one of these tiny blog posts, but I’ll mention some of the highlights. And in place of my usual montage, I’ll be posting a musical cover that Kev and I did during his visit, so stay tuned!
–
- See it all – My decision to come to Australia and study at Hillsong had various reasons behind it, but one of them was pretty simple: to see more of the world. And especially over the past three weeks, I was able to do just that! With Kevin visiting, we had planned a trip up to Cairns (North East Australia) which we did with my housemate Tiffany, and her boyfriend Emil. We stayed in a little hotel for three nights, and each day was something special! Big moments like snorkelling on the great barrier reef (a bucket list item crossed off!) were mixed with small moments like sitting at a cafe that overlooked the ocean while having meaningful conversations with dear friends. After Cairns, I showed Kevin the main Sydney sights – after all, I’m basically a local, right? Next, Kev organized renting a car so we could drive up to Port Stephens – a magical place with absolutely stunning beaches and sand dunes (across which we rode horses!)!
- Halfway Point – It’s hard to believe that there’s a fresh bucket load of students coming in who mirror what I looked like just 6 months ago – awestruck, nervous, excited and somewhat oblivious! But I can’t wait to be a “first year, second semester” student when people inevitably inquire. This semester I hope to deepen relationships, expand my knowledge and simply continue to grow, because, there IS so much more to learn, see and experience.
- Dream On – My bucket list has never been overly long, but I realized over my trip to Cairns that I’ve crossed off a couple of large items already:
Go to Australia – check!
See the Great Barrier Reef – check!
Those are two pretty big items that I’ve always had on the shelf of my dreams somewhere, hoping they’d happen but never really putting a ton of effort into making certain they’d come true. Being able to cross off those items inspires me to dream on, dream bigger. It also encourages me that the things I want to do and the desires of my heart might not be that far out of reach. I’ve been extremely blessed, it’s true, but perhaps there’s even greater things to look forward to even still.
I remember a few years ago seeing a friend’s video of their experience at Hillsong Conference and I recall a slight pang of jealousy. There was no sight of Hillsong College on my horizon at that point, but something in me wanted to be there. And, a few weeks ago, I WAS there! I got to not only be at, but contribute to Hillsong Conference. What a crazy life. Who knows what the future holds?
