Fully Loaded - 16/3/09
Fully Loaded
Hannah Blake
How many uses for a tree can you think of? This was a question posed by Lionel Windsor to 80 students and staff this past weekend.
Yes, it’s an odd question. And no, we were not attending a carpentry seminar or a naturalists’ retreat. We were at Reload.
Reload is ECU’s start of year camp, and occurs a couple of weeks into Autumn Session each year. It’s a chance to meet people from ECU, to welcome new students (or be welcomed yourself!) and to consider our Christian walk and our involvement in God’s work on our university campus.
I love going on Reload. I’ve been three times now, ever since my first year, and I’ve enjoyed it every time. There’s something amazing about spending a weekend in Christian community, being encouraged and challenged by God’s word in God’s church. I particularly love the singing at Reload. We were lead by a talented team of musicians in praising and glorifying God together – such an encouraging experience of building each other up into Christ!
Undoubtedly, one of the best parts of Reload is the Bible talks. As you may well have guessed, this year’s talks were on the theme of environmentalism, under the title, “Is God Green?” We considered what the Bible tells us about the world around us, about God as Creator, and about our place in all of this. We were challenged by the fact that our role is to rule the world under the supreme authority of God, and by the fact that out sinfulness has had cosmic ramifications for our relationships with the world, with each other, and with God himself. I realised how easy it is to slip into viewing the world from the point of view of either a materialist (“it’s there for me and my personal gain”) or a paganist (“all the world is God and we should worship it”), and was convicted of my need to be aware of this danger and to cut this sin out of my life.
The weekend also provided great opportunities for many other activities. Faculty time on Saturday morning is always a great encouragement. This year the girls from Commerce, Law and Education trekked out to Robertson to enjoy pies from (The Famous) Robertson Pie Shop, read God’s word together and discuss its implications for our faculty this year, particularly in regard to evangelism and building relationships with non-Christians. Back at the conference centre, we spent valuable time in 1-on-1s, which involved reading the Bible, praying and chatting with another student. We also engaged in the traditional Faculty Games, in which Commerce, Law and Education positively slaughtered the competition in both the artistic chalk reproduction and Go-Go-Stop activities. (Yes, we rock.)
If you didn’t come to Reload this year, I hope this has given you an idea about what it is, and that you will be keen to come next year. I very highly recommend it, and would love to see you there at Reload 2010!
So, how many uses can you think of for a tree? Among other things, we heard from Lionel that the Bible teaches us that trees are given for food, for shelter, for building, and to make heavenly pharmaceuticals. But all this is meaningless in comparison with one other very significant use for a tree. The Bible tells us that Christ was hung on a tree, becoming a curse for us to take away the guilt of punishment of our sin. This is the message we at ECU seek to proclaim in all we do, and is the ultimate reason for Reload. Please join us this year as we embark on this great mission!
Hannah Blake is a 3rd year Primary Education student
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