If you thought Perth winters were cold then you need to see what this bloke is up to.
Surfing the great lakes has got to be one of those cray desperate things true surfers do when there are no other options!
Check out the ice on these blokes wetsuits after a winter surf…
I love that episode of the Simpsons where Bart sells his soul to Millhouse for $5.00 and then regrets it. Well… my good friend and our ex Forge team member, Rachel Barr has sold her soul to the coffee devil!!
Hard to believe it could happen to someone you know… but photos don’t lie!
Funnily enough I was down at the local Gloria Jeans today for a coaching appointment and I actually watched one of the staff members sitting on a break having a coffee and throwing sugar caches across the cafe at the other staff who were serving behind the counter. Unbelievable…
I actually quite like GJ’s coffee but I’m not up for a place where staff behave like 9 year old boys on red cordial!
What I love about Gloria’s is how they ask your first name. Am I just evil, or is it genuinely funny to each time come up with a different and completely absurd name?
If we’re going to be friends, then sure, you can have my first name. But don’t be surprised if its Boris, Mohammed, Guiseppi…
If anyone can make GJ’s a goer then Rach will the woman! She is one of those rare talents with great people skills, a highly organised mind and an amazing creative streak. (Bring her back to West Oz Michael!!)
I am writing a fair bit at the moment but there is a lot stirring in me right now.
Today was one of those very enjoyable days where we had a few families of neighbours round for brunch and hung out until early afternoon. Then we lazed. I took Sam to the rubbish tip to see if there were any ‘treasures’ lying around (he got a jet ski) and then tonight we watched Luther.
People of courage always inspire me and Luther was one of those kinds of blokes. But what left the biggest dent on me was the contrast between the fight he put up to allow people to read the Bible for themselves and be free from the enslavement of the church and the indifference with which the scriptures get treated in by so many Christians today.
If Luther hadn’t done his thing we could still be paying money to corrupt church officials to buy our way out of purgatory. As a result of Luther we were given the opportunity to read the Bible and think for ourselves, but reality is that little has changed in practice.
Most people still trust a holy man to tell them what ‘it really says’. Maybe the percentage of free thinkers has risen, but I get the sense that this would not be the world Luther would have dreamt of.
A few weeks back I made a few comments on ‘apostolic women’ or perhaps more broadly ‘pioneering leadership’ amongst women. They do seem to be a rare breed and part of the question is ‘why’? At the Forge national summit I was presenting a session on apostolic leadership that definitely had a blokey edge to it – lots of testosterone and grunting – but the girls asked ‘how does this take shape for women?’
A good question that continues to bob around in my mind. Thanks girls!
In the comments at Signposts watch shadow walkers the in divx I have suggested that the current situation is a combination of our innate natures as well as social conditioning. Women are naturally more maternal in their orientation and men more ‘hunter/gatherish’ but our society has also made it less appropriate for women to do pioneering types of things.
This week I was reminded of two other apostolic women. The first was Mother Theresa who we saw on the big screen on Wednesday evening. While full of compassion for the sick and dying – in fact I would say driven by compassion – she was also strong willed, courageous and full of faith. She felt sent by Jesus to care for the sick and dying – simple as that. If the movie is to be believed she was not one for detail or beauracracy. She just wanted to see things changed and would not stop until they were. She made some huge sacrifices and she inspired many with her passion.
So there you have a woman driven by compassion who was also very results oriented. She was committed to only doing what was on Jesus’ agenda yet she fought fiercly to accomplish what she felt he was leading her towards.
The classic scene has to be the end of the movie when the MT ‘organisation’ is sitting around in a Chicago office building discussing balance sheets while sipping $3.00 bottles of Perier water. She finds the whole thing absurd and in true apostolic fashion closes down the whole organisation just like that. (Did that really happen?) They had veered from their core task and were now losing their original charism. So… cut the crap and get back to what we are really about. We could say she was protecting the DNA of the movement.
A very gutsy – and yet compassionate woman.
Hmmm…
The second is not well known at all, but she is an amazing woman who has left an incredible legacy. Her name is Alice Faulkner. In the 1920’s she and her new husband took off to the Kimberleys in WA to engage in pioneering mission work among aboriginal people.
She and Ern travelled all round the Kimberleys, meeting the aboriginal people in their creek-beds, adopting kids, teaching them, loving them and generally making an impression that will not be forgotten. They were involved in bulding, education, nursing, in fact anything that would serve and connect them to the people. The aboriginal name given to Alice was ‘Endubboo’ which means ‘mother’. She was a mother to many of the people in that area during the 50 years she and Ern spent up there. (Yes you read right… 50 years)
She died 3 weeks ago at the age of 94. She had been struggling with cancer for two years and eventually, although her mind was as sharp as tack, the body just wore out. I went to see her the day before I left for the Forge National Summit, as we knew time was near. It is always a privelege to sit with godly people as they end their lives. To be able to say ‘well done – you have inspired me’. I told her I would be telling her story at Forge and for years to come, (She would much rather me just talk about Jesus) as people needed to hear of their lives and what can be achieved if we are simply willing to follow God’s call.
This week Danelle went to the funeral up in Fitzroy Crossing. Five days of travel for 1/2 a day of funeral, but worth every moment and every cent to honour one of West Oz’s great pioneering missionaries. What was striking about the funeral was that the aboriginal people (despite all the mistakes that were made with them in those times) saw her as their mother and saw her as someone who had changed the equilibrium of life for them in that part of the world.
Some of her final words, read out at the memorial service down here, were ‘tell my people that I love them…’ These were her people. She had become one of them – not a ‘foreigner’ or a ‘whitefella’ – but a family member. Danelle’s mum tells of reading a missionary story to her 3 days before she died, her mind still sharp and alert. Nana says to her ‘it makes me want to ‘go’ all over again’. The missionary spirit was still alive and well 3 days from the end.
There are some people who will never be famous in this life, but whom I count it an immense privelege to have been around. Her and Grandpa are definitely two of those people.
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Tonight at our team meeting we had Keith and Viv Lehman come and share some of their story with us.
For the last 9 years these guys have been involved with establishing community meals for those in need. They have served over 350 000 meals to people, at one stage operating 5 nights a week in both Scarborough and Fremantle.
There is no doubt God wants us to get involved with people in need. We just need to ask, ‘is this the way he wants us to do it?’
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If he does it will be a wonderful adventure, but also a significant sacrifice for those who take it on. Its always easy to see the rosy side of things, but to serve needy people week in week out is quite draining and not for the faint of heart!
Give us both wisdom and compassion Lord.
While in Kalgoorlie a few weeks back I was given a book co written by one of the people I hooked up with about William & Catherine Booth, the Salvation Army founders.
What an amazing couple!!!
I had no idea of how dynamic and passionate these two were. I think it was one of the most inspiring stories I have read in a long time. What struck me was William’s vision and how closely it paralleled some things that God has said to me.
If you have never read the story of William and Catherine (because she was just as gutsy and influential as him) and you’re serious about living as a missionary then this is a must read.
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