Today was one of those days when I am reminded of how much I enjoy the life I get to live.

It began with breakfast in Leedville with a few other guys who are also exploring the questions of mission and church. We catch up monthly for breakfast and I love hanging with these guys – great diversity of opinion – great interaction and challenge and a lot of laughs. I always leave feeling ‘up’.

Then it was into the city to meet up with an older man who has been working in the area of urban mission for well over 20 years. It ws great to catch up with Garth and hear his own story of pioneering and experimenting. Isn’t it wild how you can live in the same city for so long and not realise that you are ‘riding the same train’ as someone else. I’m hoping we will see a bit more of each other. I reckon there is plenty to be learnt from him.

I hung around in the air con of a cafe to finish my Forge sessions and got a call on my mobile from the USA. A young guy called Glen who has been over there for 8 years is looking to come back and plant an emerging missional church somewhere in Perth. We met a few years back but don’t know each other. He has been involved with the same church as Justin who I now know thru blogging – weird hey?

While I was sitting there talking to Glen, a bloke sat at the table across from me – an old Uni mate – haven’t seen him for 22 years! We used to call him Gorilla because he was such a big bugger and also because he was from a famous/infamous WA sporting family (think George the commentator and gorilla is the surname). He is now a sports commentator at USA football events… That Phys Ed degree came in handy…

With the Forge sessions finished I was able to hop on the train and head home. Along the way I picked up a gift for Danelle – a voucher book with ‘vouchers’ for a ‘free 20 min massage’, a ‘video of her choice’, ‘a romantic night out’ etc etc. I grabbed it, paid for it and then read it more thoroughly. If she takes me up on it all I’ll be flat out!

Nothing on tonight…

Relax…

The reason I was at New Norcia last night was to speak to the .acom students about Forge and how they can receive credit for doing Forge units.

Scott did a great job of pulling the evening together and it was evident that there was a fair amount of energy in the room as the student body gathered. Having been to a fair few different college environments over the last year its easy to feel when things are firing and when they are struggling.

.acom definitely feels like its on a good trajectory with a healthy approach to ministry and study and a very de-centralised view of location (no central buildings at all).

We have 5 .acom students at Forge this weekend and we’re looking forward to having a whole heap more students exposed to some different thinking in relation to mission and church.

I have just got back from the SU Staff conference down in Busselton. It was really good to meet up with the other staff I rarely see because I work remotely. A great bunch of people!

The crazy weather on the first night combined with this bloke’s snoring meant there was little sleeping being done.

Now I’m home playing with the kids, catching up on email and getting organised for the New Age healing festival on the weekend.

I almost pulled the pin on the festival due to weariness… but it looks like too much fun!

Its been a few days now since I’ve seen Danelle and kids.

I miss them… I reckon that’s a good thing.

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Who would have thought it!…

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I have just got back from spending Saturday with the NCCC church plant team, sharing some of our learning from the first twelve months in

Brighton

and hearing the journey they have been on. It was a great to meet the guys who will be the missional team in

South Morang

and to be part of their first ever team meeting. We have a lot in common as missionaries to middle Australian suburbia so it will be really good to learn from each other as we go.

At the end of the day Nigel, (the team leader) started his own blog and you can tune into their story a bit more over here. They are a fantastic bunch of people so drop over and tune into their story.

Then today I was with the Forge National team sharing learning from the last 6 months, praying, discussing and dreaming our way into the future. There was a great sense of synergy and the holy spirit at work as we met. It seems that all of us have been arriving at the conclusion somewhat independently that the primary objective of Forge is simply to train first world missionaries who will take seriously the task of creating genuine disciples of Jesus Christs.

We are not primarily a church planting organisation, rather we are a mission training network, seeking to develop people who will be fit for the task of mission in this environment. Of course because we believe church flows out of mission we will be training people in sound biblical ecclesiology so that they are able to develop indigenous communities that are both true to scripture and true to culture.

At the end of the day we had a bloggers meet up for dinner at an Indian restaurant in Northcote before heading out to the airport. Present were Phil & Dan, Darren, LT, Paul, Luke and myself. Again it was great to put faces to the names and stories that I have been engaged with for quite a while.

However as with most short trips I make east I tried to keep my body on

Perth

time, which (with daylight saving) means the equivalent of 4.30am starts each day. So today I am hammered” The Greek family next door to Nigel’s place  decided to party last night and partied loud and hard” They finished around 5.00am. I think I slept a short while in there.

In a perfect world I’d take tomorrow off and relax.

It’s not a perfect world though – its frantic February – so I’ll be rolling along like a mad dog for a few weeks yet.

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I am unwinding after a looong day.

I spent most of the day in an a.com seminar on ‘Process Facilitation’. As I will be taking the ethics and values course this year it was a bit of prep and training. Some times I find myself attending these things grudgingly, but I was actually looking forward to this one both for the learning and to hang out with some quality people from diverse backgrounds. It was a valuable experience learning how to better facilitate healthy learning processes. And it affirmed some of the journey we have been on with Forge in terms of shaping our own learning environment.

From there I hurried home, had a quick dinner, played with the kids and then headed back out again for a Brighton leaders meeting. I’ve just got off the treadmill after a 4 km run (its ok I have had a shower) and now I need some time to chill before hitting the sack. I find blogging is good for just letting my hair down and reflecting on the day.

At the start of the day one of the exercises we were asked to do was choose a picture from a wide range that appealed to us and had some resonance. I chose one very similar to the one above. A mass of tracks converging, crossing, looking like a complete mess but somehow working. It kind of sums up my life at the moment…

Thanks for the responses to my question of whether or not to publish my letter to the editor of our local newspaper.

I did think for a while about whether I should let my letter to the editor be published with my name and suburb there to see. I didn’t want to have it published anonymously nor do I want to create unneccesary trouble for me or my family.

I spoke with Danelle this morning and we pretty quickly agreed to let it go to print if they still want it. Sometimes you just gotta do stuff.

So… we’ll see…

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Today I spent the day with our Forge leadership and development team as we dreamt and planned for the year ahead. It was a lot of fun and always inspiring to be in a room with such a great bunch of people.

In chatting with the crew I was reflecting on my experience of church on the weekend trying to articulate what it was that made it so enjoyable and left me feeling something very positive. As a ‘good show’ it wasn’t up there with the quality gigs around the place, but I’ve long since let go of the need to be in a place where there is good music, a great kids min, dynamic preaching etc etc. I think when you are not ‘wowed’ by a great production, or if you don’t go seeking that, then you aren’t disappointed when you don’t get it.

When you simply go to meet with other Christians and be part of the body, and that happens it is good. It was something of a reaffirmation for me that getting the Sunday morning gig humming so the punters will front up is not what I am called to do.

Now I’m not at all sure I could do this stuff 52 times a year on a Sunday morning and its not a service my neighbours are likely to find appealing, but it is raising some new questions for me about what we are doing and how we are doing it.

On Sunday night I fired off an email to the editor of the West Australian newspaper. I was angry at the preferential treatment outlaw bikers get over ordinary law abiding citizens.

Basically a well known biker died recently and at the funeral the bikers were refusing to wear helmets and stop for red lights as a ‘mark of respect’ for their fallen comrade. The police agreed to this on the basis that it would save a lot conflict. (and I know there is some wisdom in that)

However it is also allowing 300 people to run the show and do what they please.

My letter asks ‘if when next I attend a funeral I choose not to wear my seatbelt nor obey traffic signs because it is my custom and a mark of respect for the deceased will the police turn a blind eye or am I not considered dangerous enough to be given preferential treatment?’

They rang today to ask if they could publish it. I was about to say ‘sure… that’s why I wrote it… (duh!)’ when I suddenly thought I should check with Danelle… who it turns out wasn’t so comfortable with it being published – given that name and suburb are attached.

I could allow it to be published anonymously, but somehow that feels a bit cowardly.

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What would you do?

A few days ago we picked up a whole stack of 35 mm slides from my parents of my pre – teen years and the time we spent in Nth Ireland.

Danelle has been sorting thru them and we have been projecting them on the wall over the last few nights.

We have both observed something really unique. It seems that almost every time there is a photo of my brother/family and I by the ocean he/they is looking at the camera and I am looking at the sea. There are plenty of photos of the back of my head.

It starts around the time we shift to Oz and probably marks the period during which I was mesmerised by the ocean. I am still very much in love.