I was getting a bit worried for him, but it looks like its all going to be ok now.
He must be relieved.
Lucky God!
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Monthly Archives: January 2004
Why is It?
Why is it that when you are on your own and totally free, you actually run out of time to do all the things that you want to do?
It is five o’clock and I still have a truckload of things I’d like to do today.
If I had Danelle, Ellie and Sam around I doubt I would even be able to contemplate doing all these things.
Where is my time going?…
Two more days of solitude…riding in cars with boys divx movie online
Heaven?
Today I left home at 7.30 for some time in the water up at a little fishing town called Lancelin as well some prayer and reflection.
The webcam was telling me good things about the surf but the images were down – a gamble!
So I hitched up the Queen Mary and set off on the hour long drive. I used to surf Lancelin when I was in my teens and early 20’s but haven’t been back since then. It has many ‘fond’ memories of early morning (4.00) starts and surfing three times before driving home exhausted at 3.00 in the afternoon. The number of times I nearly fell asleep at the wheel are too scary to contemplate…
It was also a place of teenage hijinx and mayhem – enough said!
Today was one of those sensational days – great weather, surf and diving and some really good time with God.
Its when I do these things on my own that I become very aware that I am not alone – that I am sharing the day with God and that we are enjoying it together. (sorry you couldn’t come today Sephto – you would have loved it)
How nice to have a boat though!
The best wave up there is a 40 min paddle from shore… or a 4 min boat ride! Four guys asked me for a ride out, but sadly I had only one life jacket (illegal unless everyone has one with $1K fines and boat confiscation) ‘sorry guys!’ Big bummer… hehe!
The surf was about chest high and real nice. I went for a dive out behind the island too – crystal clear. Lots of fish! I wanted to go buy a spear gun so I could do a ‘Rupert’ and catch a few.
When the breeze came in I headed back to shore and was met a very attractive woman in a bikini offering to help me get the boat back on the trailer.
‘Sure…’
I spent some more time in prayer and reflection at the local cafe, eating a lame salad roll and drinking some petty ordinary coffee.
I decided to come home rather than stay the night. An hours drive or $80.00 for a room?
Might go back again tomorrow…
If you’re a beachy kind of person then you’ll appreciate the kind of day I’ve just described. If you’re not then you probably haven’t read this far!
Not Such an Idiot After all
After sitting on the verge and chatting with our neighbours I eventually came home and began watching part II of Lord of the Rings.
The funny thing was that it looked exactly like part 1…
I knew they’d do some re-capping, but this was word for word, scene for scene. Eventually I got up and checked the vid cases.
It turns out that the shop assistant goofed and gave me the No. I case last night but with the No. 2 movie in it – so I have already seen part 2!
No wonder it didn’t make any sense and I couldn’t figure the characters out very well!! I’m not such an idiot after all…
The question now of course is what to do – go back and watch part 1 or just give up altogether?
LOTR
I eventually watched the first episode of Lord of the Rings last night while the family were away.
Frankly… I found it hard to follow and difficult to know who was connected to who etc. Maybe it is just me.. Fantasy has never been a big attraction for me.
Over the next few days I’ll watch part II and if I get into it I’ll go see part III on the big screen.
I sense the ‘epic’ nature of the film, but I found the storyline hard to follow.
F*%$ You!
As I sit here the conversation outside my house (which I can hear quite clearly) goes something like this:
‘F*%$ you!
No F*$% you – you idiot.
Get F*%$ed Brandon I’m not an idiot’
It continues in that vein but you get the gist I’m sure. These are the 9 year old boys who live in my street. They are nice kids – but they say bad words… and I hear them.
I’m sitting here wondering what to do…
My first instinct is to tell them to pull their heads in and chill out… Once a school teacher…
Knowing that wouldn’t ‘work’ and having already established a decent relationships with these boys I am pondering a better way.
I know there is much debate over the ‘F Word’ and some would say it doesn’t matter. Maybe they are right, but if so I am yet to be convinced. Perhaps what concerns me is what these boys are expressing – what they are trying to say in their ‘f-ing’
Now – I am not offended by the F word – you wouldn’t have many friends if you were! But is it acceptable practice in everyday language?…
Something tells me ‘no’.
I understand the arguments for abolishing this thing called ‘swearing’ altogether, but I’m not convinced. My guess is that if our world sees the F word as inappropriate then we need to tune into that.
People seem to have a conscience in relation to what is / is not appropriate conduct.
Then again having watched Billy Conolly last night I’m not sure he’d agree. He compares language to weather – ‘there’s no such thing as bad weather – just the wrong clothes’. he would argue there is no such thing as bad language.
Is there? Should we even be concerned about it?
The Big and the Small of it!
Rod gave me the tip off that Phil Baker has a blog.
Phil is the senior pastor of Perth’s only megachurch curious george download free download timeline dvd honeydripper online
(if you could call it that). It is certainly ‘the’ big church in Perth with 3 or 4 thousand attending services.
That probably makes some Americans laugh, but in a city as small as ours that’s big!
Phil is a very earthy bloke, an excellent communicator and the church does some great things in the community.
Its obviously a long way (both philosophically and geographically) from where we at here in Brighton but it is one expression of the church that is cutting it for a slice of the population.
Kidless & Wifeless
Until Friday I have no children and no wife…
Danelle and kids have gone to stay with her mum and grandmother for the week on the other side of the city.
Right now I’m thinking about how much I will miss them… and also how much I will sleep in, stay up late, have fun, hit the beach etc etc…
Yes it will be tough!
Actually I’m thinking a two day retreat to Lancelin might be just the trick for getting focussed. Right now I feel like I need to settle in and chew thru some serious prep work before Feb hits and I am overloaded.
After a year of long service leave and relative ease I am feeling the pressure of deadlines and commitments again.
Maybe its just that I am being called to a life of surfing, sleep ins and watching the cricket? (Funny thing is thar after 2 years of kids I can’t stay un bed past 7.30am)
Hot as?…
40.6 degrees celsius today.
That’s hot in anybody’s language.
I find myself concerned for our lawn that is dying, and our garden that is thirsty. Maybe I need to keep some perspective.
We lament a brown crunchy lawn, whereas in other parts of the world real people die for lack of water. Makes the lawn issue seem a little trivial by comparison…
Surprise…
I’m baaacckk!
Ok – so I didn’t write anything for a week… and it actually wasn’t that hard. So much sleeping and eating and beaching to do!
I won’t bore you with holiday details but here is a brief overview of my life for the last week:
* Kids were with us for the first four days – I love them – but the next three days (minus kids) were veerrry nice too!
* I was pretty depressed for the first two days – for no apparent reason. I went out on Monday afternoon and had a chat with myself, told myself to snap out of it and then came home and watched Jackass with Mase. I needed a good laugh. But seriously I’m not sure what happened – just felt like crap for a while…
* Cafe Pronto is excellent! If you are ever in Mandurah then this place rocks. Great food and service. Its on the corner near the old bridge. I had a seafood pizza the first night and then an ‘Olay’ (steak in garlic & chilli) the next – beeudiful.
* We saw Love Actually. It was great – loved the variety of storylines and the whole way it was put together. Don’t under-estimate it… I’m thinking if I was single I’d be off to America…
* Caught up with TazDaz the Tasmanian Forge director and his family/friends for lunch. I had chocolate fudge cake for lunch.
* Didn’t surf… that really sucked.
* Read part of ‘Intro to Ecclesiology’ and re-read Liquid Church
* Watched the cricket – a lot…
* Tonight is a ‘school re-union’ for 5 or 6 of us. It should be good to catch up with some of the crew again. I never stayed in touch with anyone so I’m not sure how I made the invite list (of only 8 or 9) but I’m happy I did.
There’s heaps more, but I don’t really care to write it so I’m guessing you could care less reading it!
Now its back to real life – work…