Merry Christmas!

Hi all, pray you have a great time over Christmas, that it's a great time spent with family and friends and that you can take the time to be thankful for that precious gift of Jesus.
Thanks to all who have read my blurbs over the year and have commented and stuff, it's cool to have these conversations.
Pray that you have an awesome year of 2008, see you in the blogosphere!
Glenno

Relate to this?

I'm sure many of us at this time of the year can relate to this photo, taken yesterday by my lovely wife at the zoo.
I kinda think it relates to the fella's a bit more though. I'm sure if he had pants on his hand would be down there and a remote would be on his lap.

The BIG 3 . . . 7

Spent the day at the Zoo yesterday with the fam for the 37th Bday. Gotta say the big 4 . . 0 is creeping up way too fast for my liking. It all depends on the way you feel I guess and actually with my knee giving me curry and a stuffed shoulder 40's sounding about right. Actually . . . was carrying a couple of pavers a couple of days ago, walking between a couple of pallets and my foot became caught in between the pallets which sent me flying. Came off with a great graze on my shoulder and a lump on the good knee. I think this is what they mean when you get old and they say 'he had a fall'? I hope not! I'll put it down to pushing my body to the limit and living on the extreme edge, holding on to my youth and living to the full. Now, where's that ice pack?

Timbercrete Titans Rock the ICA

Okay, so footy season is well and over and Cricket season has well begun. I coach the U11's 'Timbercrete' Titans 1 indoor cricket team. There is a 2 and 3 team also, that means Timbercrete Titans shirts can be seen all over the place on Saturday mornings and they're bright!
Brod's plays in the team I coach and a few others from footy and other schools. They've been playing as a team now for approx 3 years, they're skilled and they know the game. This season, not unlike footy they are again undefeated. They played the second best team in the comp on Saturday, the Crushers and had some crushing inflicted upon them. In 16 overs the Titans 1 finished with a score of 175 runs. One of those batting pairs hit 65 runs off 4 overs. They were very pumped and thought it may have been a tight game, so you could see them putting in that extra effort in the field. The Crushers were dealt a flurry of great bowling, catching, throwing and wicket keeping to be all out for 49. Now it's time for a break, won't know what to do on Saturday mornings for a while, c'mon footy season!

Out with the old and in with the new

Well it's been a few weeks now that Cuddles, the black cat, went missing.
We have come to understand that being in a more rural setting lends itself to certain mishaps that may not normally occur in suburbia concerning animals.
A night or two before Cuddles disappeared Teresea heard a very distressed chicken and found a couple in hiding. One of the chickens now has a limp from what we believe was a hungry fox mauling. She lives to lay another egg though, albeit now with a limp, the others were found and are at to their laying best again.
It is of my opinion therefore, that Cuddles, a cat (kitten then purchased from a suburban pet shop), was also unaware of the perils of country life and found herself in the jaws of that very same fox, never to return again.
This is mere speculation however, as I have some opposition to this theory as they (not to be mentioned for fear of incrimination) think I'm just after a good gory story.
My ground for this speculation though, I believe, is well founded. On that very afternoon we saw Cuddles, near the house, looking as happy as larry on our way out to indoor cricket training at approx 16.15 hrs and 20 sec's. Between the time we came home, approx 1800 hrs, and calling her for tea, 1900, at dusk, she had gone.
No sick cat from a snake bite, no run over cat from a car, no smells of rotting decay (you know) nothing, nada. It is upon these facts, and the fact that she always came in for food, that I believe she was taken, without a trace. . . . .
Anyway, that all over, now we have a new one! Molly. Get over it fast and move on, that's what I say. This one is far more street wise as it came from a countryfide home, next door, for nothing. Hopefully she'll give that fox a good run for its money and take a few mice out along the way.

When the simple things turn bad

Well, I'm happily working away in the shed and I get the call . . . Brody's dislocated his finger at school, can you go and and get him. So out the door I go, it's about 10.30 in the morning. So I'm thinking, should be fine we'll just pop it back in . . . right?
Get to the school and he's just sitting there like nothing's really going on except his hand's all bandaged up and in a sling. So off we trot to the nearest hospital. Not a long wait and the doctor has a look and it's his left index finger on the knuckle closest to his wrist, the first knuckle and his finger is pointing up not straight out. So the doctor gives it a yank to pop it in . . . . and yanks again a bit harder . . . still won't go. So . . off to get an xray, takes forever coz the xray computer thingo has shut down. Come back to emergency and wait, and wait, and wait, you know the drill. Doc comes along with the xray. Yep, dislocated, cool. So now it's time for the real yanking. Gives Brod's a few injections with the trusty local and off we go twisting, turning, pulling . . . real hard this time, now Brod's is feeling a bit of pain and some stress starts to set in. Nup, no go, 'I'll just get a doc who's done this a lot more than I have' the doc says. New doc has another real hard yank, definitely harder than the last fella. Nup, he says you need to go to a bigger hospital. The first doc gives his finger one last good go just in case and sends us on our way.
Now we're really waiting. I'd say it's about 1pm. We're waiting for the hand doctor and I think they had to fly him in from Venezuela or something (slight exaggeration)it took a fair time. We get to see his assistant at about 3.30 and she's not pulling anything. At about 4.30 the hand doctor (plastic surgeon) is ready. He asks a few q's like 'where did they apply the local?' 'in the finger' we told him 'nah that's no good he needs his whole hand dead'. So he plugs brody with more local this time in the wrist! His hand goes off to sleep so it's time for some more yanking! The doc politely tries to ask questions to distract Brody, who is well aware of his schemes, while really yanking hard, so hard I thought he might pull his finger clean off! Actually to the point where this six foot and a bit big doc was shaking because of how hard he was pulling. Nup, you're gonna have to stay the night and we're going to have to cut you open. What! I thought dislocations were an easy fix. Well you learn something new everyday. Not this finger on this knuckle as there's a ligament running up the finger that gets caught in the knuckle (so we're told by some doctor a week after, 'no matter how hard they pulled they would never get it back in' he says) great.
So now we wait for the operating theatre. Some fella comes in and pushes in front coz he chopped three fingers off with an angle grinder! Fancy that, the nerve of the guy. So get this . . . . at 3.30am the next morning Brod's has surgery. What a saga! I was stuffed! Brody was sick of being yanked and was glad the finger was finally in it's righful position.

I$n't it time to break out?!

Caught up with some new friends on the weekend who shared that they had been given a hard time from fellow Christian friends for moving to a suburb, that by certain people's standards, isn't as good as others.
It caused me to think about something I've been pondering on lately and that is a Christian's synchronistic lifestyle with the culture in which we live.
By all standards, from what I hear from people around me, I am meant to be making a whole stack of dollars, living in a nice suburb, paying off the house, driving a decent car, you know the drill. What I have discovered is that this is not only the dream of our society and culture it's also the dream of many 'Christians'.
The question I have about this is about simply hearing God's voice, obedience and faith.
If i hear God's voice correctly I'm pretty sure he's been telling me all my life, through his word, to seek Him first, not serve 2 masters, that He will provide my needs, to love Him and to love others before myself.
So if I have dream to be affluent is this not in total contrast to His word? Am I not being more like the world than a follower of Jesus?
So I think that one of the big reasons our local churches are slowing to have an impact on our culture is that the local church in many ways is just a mini culture of the same mindset. If it is that, then it's no wonder that the sick, the hurting, the broken, the lonely, the poor can't relate and don't find Jesus relevant.
John in the book of Rev had something to say about this, actually Jesus through John. It came in a picture of the lukewarm church at Laodicea, not standing for anything, totally affected by the surrounding culture. Jesus said the church was basically good for nothing.
I believe followers of Jesus don't just fit in to the culture and enjoy the ride with a little genie to rub when we get into strife, like a get out of jail free card. We're either for it or not. We either have faith in God to provide, hear His call, try to live the obedient life or we don't.

Faith

Faith isn't faith unless it's tested.

New Timbercrete Website

Check it out! Looks Awesome, fresh, green and vibrant!! New galleries of homes built with Timbercrete, new testimonies from pleased customers, easier navigation and easier to read info. Thanks to the team at Enabled Solutions, great work!

Adelaide Homeshow

Off to the Adelaide Homeshow this weekend.
Speaking on the Greensmart stage everyday and getting Timbercrete 'out there'. We're expecting it to be very busy and great for exposure and sales etc They expect 25,000 - 30,000 people through, should be a hoot!

New Addition

I think Scruffy's a little worried and unsure just what he's got himself in to . . . . other than his favorite hiding pipe that is.

ABC on Good Friday Footy

In relation to the next post on Good Friday Footy I found this:
"So what’s going on how is it such a remark can pass unremarked on national television? Is it perhaps that religion and in particular Christianity has lost its hold on the public imagination? That, a bit like Kim Beazley, the folk out there just aren’t listening anymore, and that as far as leadership is concerned, the condition is terminal? It’s not about hostility; it’s about indifference and perhaps even irrelevance. Christianity does not matter to most people because it has nothing to say to them. Or perhaps in a consumer culture, it has nothing to offer them?"
Full Article

Good Friday AFL

It seems the AFL are voting tomorrow on whether there should be AFL played on Good Friday. It seems to have sparked some interesting discussions about faith and life in Australia Article Here AFL Poll I'd be interested in anyone's views on it. Australia definitely has a religion of following footy and it would be interesting to know if that religion outweighs (or is more wanted) than a remembrance of Jesus' death. I don't know what to think, being a follower of Jesus and a follower of footy and being a bit tired of doing things just because they're done ie going to church on Good Friday because everyone has always done it etc. Could we watch a bit of footy in the arvo after spending some time with a group of believers? What else would we be doing? I myself like to think that Jesus' death on the cross affects my life everyday not just on Sunday or even Good Friday. The question also has to be asked whether the bible actually asks us to meet specifically just to remember his death and resurrection at the approximate time at which it happened. I get the feeling that Jesus would far rather us be affected by who He was and is as the Son of God everyday than go to a Good Friday service and give honor to Him once a year.
And what if before the big game they actually remember Jesus and who he was with a statement or prayer and a minutes silence. I wonder how many people would hear a message of hope that maybe wouldn't have if the footy wasn't on?

Awesome Signage!

Just put up a new sign at the Home Idea centre in the city - looks awesome! I'd like to say thanks to Grant and Craig at Enabled Solutions for their artwork and professionalism, they've been awesome! Great photo work too from an unnamed source, now we pray it brings in the work! :)

Christian or just a follower of Jesus?

Words, even though I was always told that sticks and stones will break my bones and names(words) can never hurt me, they (words) can still play a pretty significant part in life and beliefs. I think I've come to the conclusion that to call someone a Christian doesn't necessarily mean that they follow the teachings and life of Jesus. That being a 'Christian' is often wrapped up in the local church or religion and there can be a big difference! It's also interesting that other religions often see a 'Christian' as a hypocrite yet see Jesus as a great man or even believe Him to be the the Son of God.

Well that sucks!

What a shocker!
What a day to have a bad one. If only they put up a bit of a whimper? So many things to have a whinge about. You have to wonder whether it would've been better to bow out (pardon the pun) against West Coast with some sort of fight (although they still would've had a second chance) than to go out like this. All I can hope in, is that this will cause them to fight real hard next year and I guess it certainly has the potential to cause this team to want to prove something so . . . . look out in 08 . . . . please.

Love and the Church

The Dave Andrews awesome read of 'Not Religion but Love' really echo's some of my sentiments towards the local Christian church in huge amounts. I think my difficulty over the years with the church has been because the local church has been more interested in doing the church thing rather than simply being the people that Jesus wants them to be and loving others unconditionally. I wrote this a while ago about this very fact:

"For so long now I believe the church (generally speaking) has given God’s true love a fair bit of lip service that hasn’t dropped to the heart or feet.

For whatever reason, often I have seen local churches chase the easy options, chasing those who can come into the life of church the quickest with the least amount of effort. Unfortunately it doesn’t take much love for this to happen.
What we see in Christ though is far greater than this. Jesus came to love as God loved - with a whole gamut of self sacrifice.

It is this sacrificial unconditional love, that caused grown men to drop their nets and follow, that caused sinners to weep at his feet, that sent self righteous accusers who pointed the finger to take a good look at themselves and men in high positions give up the right to their riches and fame."

I'd be interested in anyone's thoughts on that.

BRING IT ON!!!

C'mon the Power! Tame those Cats!!!

Church and Discipleship

Been commenting at a previous lecturer's (one of my fav's and a good bloke) blog site. There's been some interesting conversation going on about community and understanding Jesus outside the normal Christian format. So I thought I'd post this as it prompted me to think of some stuff I have written in the past:
"The problem is, I believe, that because of our (churches across the world) fleshly desire to create something that ‘looks good’, in building our own church empires and making sure there are plenty of people, we have let go of the very thing that is good, simply growing passionate disciples of Jesus. We’ve replaced what God designed to be good - getting alongside of an individual, loving them, leading them to Christ, helping them grow in their understanding and their position as a child of God, and leading them to do the same, into - come to church, get involved in what we do, become a part of the crowd and follow the religion. No wonder they don’t want to follow Jesus actively, just look at what we’ve served them! An empty fulfilment of rules and rituals, legalities and burnout, high, unrealistic expectations and a love for the things of church, not necessarily a love for God and each other, the primary commandments of the one who we say we follow".

Sports all round!

Well I'm kinda a sports freak in many ways, have been from a young age. Played footy and basketball until my knee decided to go in a different direction to where I wanted to go. Needless to say .. the end of competitive sport. It just so happened that at the young age of 21 I married a very zippy point guard and netballer. So you'd think that if we had some children they'd be loving sport. Well you'd be right! This is as good a bragging place as any so here goes.
Footy. . . . as a coach and Dad of player was very hot this year. The mighty Christies Beach Primary 4/5's were unbeaten! Not only that, they kicked an everage of 107 points per game, with a total of 1395 points for the 13 games played. Brody Kicked 30:10 for the season from playing primarily on the ball and no I didn't tank it so he kicked more. :)

Glenno in the middle - the big one - Brody's on my left arm (with the boofy hair!).










Gymnastics . . . . seems we have a new State champ in the fam! State championships for Shannon, Kirrily and Hannah was last weekend and they all did well!
Kirrily had a ball and came 8th overall with a 3rd on the bars in her Grade. Her team won the overall grade.










Shannon had a great weekend also and her team won the grade overall as well. Shannon also came a personal fourth overall.


















Hannah had an awesome championships! In under 6 in her grade Hannah came first on the vault, 2nd on the beam and 4th on floor and took out the Grade as State champ, what a little trooper!

















So we're very proud of our kids and their efforts, they have tried so hard and it's been awesome to watch them develop and we look forward to that more into the future. It's been a big year in sport! Go 'the Power' and bring on the cricket!

Sustainable House Construction #1

Ok, so, starting a new line of Blog that will be a journal to building a new, Energy Efficient Home.
We have a block of land at Aldinga Beach that we want to build on. It is approx 1200m2, 51m deep and 24m across, it's flat and north facing.
We want to build it as energy efficient as we possibly can and the least amount of impaction on our environment. That means on gases into the air, co2 etc, amount of electricity, lpg etc used for living and most importantly that we are doing our best to save water.
So, hopefully this can be a reference point for us as we research and maybe for others as they also consider building or renovating their homes.
I'll be gathering information off the web and hopefully linking to other like minded blogs and resources that are doing the same. If anyone can help or wants to join in, it would be most appreciated.

New Camera

Bought a new camera, mainly for the business, a Fuji Finepix S9600. It's nearly an SLR but not quite. Very good though and so far am having a good time with it. The main shots that will be taken will be ones like the header of this blog, of bricks and homes. But there'll be some others like the macro's of the flowers around the place and some action shots.
It's very easy to use and has many manual functions. The 28mm lens gives a great wide shot and should be good for shots of homes, especially those with a wide frontage. Now I just have to learn some good photography techniques! The shots above were taken at my place, two macro shots, a daisy and a reed with droplets of water. Then an action shot of Lara.
Not bad seeing as I had to kick the ball, focus and shoot in a few seconds!

Our wild stallion and equine flu

Check out our lawn mower! Don't have to start it, give it fuel, push it (sometimes) and it goes all night.
Bossy's his name for a good reason too.
Talking about Horsies, this equine flu thing seems to be a bit of a farce. Yep I understand the need to be careful about spreading the disease etc but it's only really affecting the racing crew. If a horse gets it it's like getting the flu ourselves, we lay low and get better, and that's the whole issue!
Horses have to lay low, that's fine for ours that's all they do anyway but for the racers it's all about the $$$$$ As if they don't have enough anyway!

The adventures of Glenn and Stuey

Well we have an employee, the big stumeister, a very good friend of mine. It's great having him around and we work well together. We have some rather funny times also so I thought that now and then I'd have and adventures of Glenn and Stuey section on the blog.
Today the big Stu nearly had a major issue. It's hard to explain in full without actions but as we were about to pull up a mold Stuey bumped himself on the saw bench which propelled him towards the soft blocks in the molds and towards me. So imagine the look on his face as he's falling towards me and the wet bricks and my face as I brace myself to catch him. Now think about how it looks when one man is supporting another like a bridge over a bunch of wet bricks! He he. I pushed him back and we lifted the molds. No damage done and much laughter was had by all!

Mars Hill

I've been listening a lot to Mars Hill teaching lately and I'm finding it awesome and inspirational. I have this mp3 transmitter and can transmit a teaching mp3 into the factory from the office. So while I'm stacking (it's too noisy when making them) Timbercrete bricks I'm listening to Rob Bell or someone else at Mars Hill.
The focus on biblical teaching, church not being just Sunday but people, focus on serving local and global, mentoring instead of just programming, methods of ministry that have resonated in my heart for years all come through this place and I'm loving it.
At the moment the series is 'God is Green' you can find it here. Seeing as Timbercrete is green and we as a family are trying to live and build green, to know that God is the greenest of all means we need to listen to him about that. As followers of God and His son Jesus, the green greenies, I pray that we can follow, live and lead a greener life.

Broken Hill and General Footy

At the start of the month Brod's and I traveled to Broken Hill for a couple of games of footy. Brody made it into the U13's South Adelaide Dev Squad which was a huge feat as he's a year younger than he should be so that's been cool. The team played the first game straight off the bus against the best from around the Broken Hill area. The boys had been on the bus for 6 hrs so to lose by only a couple of goals wasn't bad. The next game 2 days later was much better, the boys put in a very hard effort and came away with a good win. It was a great trip, good to get to know a few people and I helped out as a runner which was cool but I discovered I'm very unfit, aerobically anyway!
Coaching this year has been a blast. This will be the last year of coaching the 4/5's as next year Brody and most of the team will be 6/7's, so I'll probably coach them. I have to say that coaching footy is awesome! Being around people in this footy community is great. I have some close friends there now after coaching for the last couple of years and I would say that there are who some who are more like Jesus than some of those I have known in the past that have claimed to be.
As far as results go, the boys haven't lost a game, as a matter of fact they haven't won by less than about 9-10 goals, some by about 20. This is fun but in many ways they're getting a bit cocky and could do with some good competition, reality will hit next year I think / hope.

Switchfoot in Paradise?

Ok, I'm a bit miffed.
I heard a rumour from a pretty good source that Switchfoot were at one time invited to the Oz gospel Music Festival in Toowoomba and they turned the organisers down due to the fact that Switchfoot had said they don't do 'Christian Events'. Now I fully support this to the hilt. I would rather see Christians impacting our world in the world than saying they're a Christian and never leaving the comfort of the church pew. So I was pretty pumped to hear that Switchfoot wanted to have more of an outside impact than in. Now . . . I was pretty excited to hear that Switchfoot were coming here to Oz, then I read off the website that they are only playing at Youth Alive venues in a youth alive package, one of them here at Paradise Church - not happy.
Now lets just say Switchfoot are struggling for mainstream airplay on radio, which I think they are, is playing at these venues going to do them any favours? I don't think so. Who will also go to these venues and what will they be hit with when they're there? Will there be an alter call, a love offering?? What is this about, Switchfoot and their kingdom impact or Youth Alive and drawing a crowd? Is Switchfoot changing their tack, are they just interested in the $ more than the influence, if so then 'American Dream' is just a song with no meaning?
I'll be trying to get there coz I like their music so much, but I'm confused and not happy, wishing they were at a better venue.

My answer to my year 12 english teacher

I think it was 1987, sitting in Yr 12 English and after receiving a result (probably a bad one)Ms Matthews asked me this question. 'Why are you in this class? What are you going to do after school anyway? The real question was - what are you doing in my class? You're obviously not going to use anything from yr 12 English, what are you going to do that could ever need English!
So now - my answer to Ms Matthews wherever she may be:

Well after school I'm going to become a carpenter and I'm going to have to write some assignments for trade school. I'm also going to need to write essays for my advanced building certificate. After a few years in the trade I think I might try and get a theological degree which will require me to know how to write 2000-3000 word essays with specific guidelines so that the lecturers know what I'm talking about and to meet protocol. After I finish my degree I'm going to become a pastor in a church and I'll be writing messages for public speaking every week and sometimes twice a week. After about seven years of that I think I'll start my own business and have to answer emails, write invoices, fax's, marketing strategies, financial reports etc etc and then I think I'll do some more building study just because I love English soooo much. During that I think I'll blog a little. :)

So Ms Matthews that's why I'm in this class.

Just an encouragement to all of you - You may not know why you're doing what your doing, but God does. You may get people saying to you 'why are you doing this or that? That's ridiculous!' My encouragement is to keep your eyes fixed on the goal and push on. What you're doing now may not make sense but in years to come you may be able to look back and realise that what seemed stupid at the time God had a purpose for.

When not paying attention makes big statement!

Went for the first time, with the whole family, to the footy last night. It was a good time! For a half it was great until the littler girls had enough of football catching their attention. All Kirrily wanted to do was see if she could kart-wheel the whole length of the oval! So a good night but that's not what I'm writing about.
A couple of Ports new players were signing autographs in the Planet Teal area for the kids. One of those players, a bit of a hero in Brod's eyes(and mine on the quiet)was there. I asked Brody if he wanted his autograph and Brod's, while nervous, was pretty keen. I even asked him if he wanted a photo and he was keen on that too. So we walked to the table where they were sitting and Brody handed the player his hat to sign on. The player didn't look at Brody as he was talking to his team mate, but he, like on auto pilot, took his hat, signed it and gave it back without giving Brody the time of day, continuing with his conversation.
Needless to say that Brody didn't want a photo with him and that the signature on the hat is now pretty worthless to him.
It makes me think of the impact that we, even though we're not all hero's, have on others. The not looking people in the eye, the wanting to do something else coz we're busy, just being involved in ourselves more than we are with others. It asks the question what really is important and I have to say it, that Jesus, I believe, really gave people the time, looked them in the eyes and cared. I believe that in reading scripture that all who met Him never went away empty. I don't know how but I don't want to leave people empty, somehow I want them to know Jesus through the interaction that I have with others and Jesus has through me.

Everyone wants to leave

Well it seems that it's not just the Dog who wants to leave the Munyard fold of love and care, the horses also think that they have had enough!
As you may be able to tell, the horses in this photo look kind of tired, they would, at this time of the morning (approx 7.30am!), usually be fighting to get to their portion of feed. Not this morning as they were probably feeling tired and fat!
You see Glenn (sounds better in second tense) gets up at 5.45am before a day of manufacturing the magnificent Timbercrete blocks, so that he can feed the horses. This morning as per usual (well sometimes not usual) Glenn drives to the horse property at about 6.15 to give these lovely animals their morning breaky. Where we keep the feed is at the end of a gap in the fences which is a walkway through to the yards the horses are in. Glenn walks past the the walkway and looks to see the horses, hmmm he says to himself, they must be down the bottom (sometimes the view to the horses is obscured due to other sheds) 'nothing too unusual' he thinks. Glenn gets all the feed ready and walks to the tap to water the feed down where he can see the yards a bit better, hmmm he thinks to himself, they must be in their shelter, (things are starting to get little unusual now, they would normally be at the fence waiting to get their hay). Glenn pushes the barrow to the yards and still there's no sign of darling little horsey's . . . . 'oh crap!', Glenn says to himself, THE GATE IS OPEN! Although Glenn didn't say that about the gate he just thought it in is head. 'Oh crap' was definitely audible however.
So, not being the man from snowy river type horse handler, Glenn rings his horse handling wife only to find that his horse handling daughter picks up the phone and says that his horse handling wife is in the shower and can't talk right now! 'Well', Glenn said, 'tell her (the horse handling wife in the shower) that the gate is open to the horse yard and the horses are gone and I can't find them anywhere!' (that got her out pretty fast!)
Glenn knocked on the door of the home of the place where the horses live, the bleary eyed owner came to the door. Glenn said 'sorry to wake you but you haven't seen four horses by any chance coz the gate is open and they're gone!?' 'Mmmm . . . nup' came the reply, 'let me get changed out of the pj's and I'll help you out'.
So Glenn walked off to do some serious tracking. The concern was twofold, first that maybe they'd been flogged, second they've found there way on to a main Rd somewhere. The concerns were settled pretty soon by the evidence of multiple hoof tracks leading off to the back of the property. Now in the 4wd, Glenn sets off with his tracking buddy to find the lost herd. Glenn called the police to see if 4 horses had been reported around the area, the copper said 'nup only a case of someone hitting a kangaroo'. (sure it wasn't a dog hitting a kangaroo, Glenn thought)
So off over the vineyards and far away they are driving and tracking. After stopping many times to regain the hoof tracks they spotted them on a hill, a k or 2 from their home. Glenn and his tracking buddy drove up to them and found that they were actually in a backyard of someone else's property. They looked at them as if, 'what . . what's the trouble?'. All Glenn had in the car to lead them was a snatch strap 4wd. So he grabbed the leader and led them home. Hence the end of the story of the escaping horses.
We're still not sure what would've been more interesting for the people at which home the horses finished up, seeing four horses in their backyard or seeing a 4wd left there. Funny. . . . . . now.

Eco Living Expo

If you're interested in helping our environment and want to see products or be informed on being more eco friendly then come along.
We have a Timbercrete exhibit there, so if you're coming, let us know! If you let me know early enough I might also be able to get a 2 for 1 discount for you as well. Should be great! Also doing a talk spot on alternative building products - Timbercrete :)

Time flies when your just flat out!

Well, haven't had much time to think or write lately. Up to my eyeballs in bricks and study and kids sport. All good though. Some good orders in for bricks and some good fun watching kids do well at sport.
The big bosserooni came over from the big smoke and he kept us busy. Such a humble, Godly man. You know the type of people you love to be in the presence of? Well he's one of them.
Brod's is playing for the South Adelaide U/13's Country Development squad at the moment as well as for his school team. He played a ripper on Tuesday night against west although the team were pummeled. The school team he plays in and I coach is going great guns. We haven't won a game by less than 10 goals yet. Last week was 147-20. The team is really gelling and they all seem to be really enjoying each other's company and are learning a fair bit about life and footy.
Girls had gymnastics comp last weekend and they all did well. All of their teams came first and Kirra's has had an approach from an elite team but we don't think it will be happening.
Big week ahead of more sport and more bricks and then we're off to the Eco Show.

Teenscamp April 07

Camp was all about I love . . . . . ?
I spoke on passion:
- What is passion and the passion God has for us.
- The leeches of passion
- Being the passion

I blogged about passion no too long ago Here. I guess my heart for passionate followers of Jesus has been strong for a long time and see this as probably one of the biggest attributes to the view that most people have of Christianity, that it is not alive and stuck in it's religious format of Sunday worship.

My heart is that the younger generation will defy the past and look beyond religion and follow Jesus wholeheartedly wherever they find themselves and not get too caught in some of the, often fruitless, religious avenues that the institutional church finds itself.

I didn't go into that too much but concentrated on a personal relationship with God and my prayer is that everyone who heard stuff over the weekend will focus on that more than anything.

I'm hoping to podcast mp3's of the messages here soon but for now I have a link to my notes on the first session. Feel free to copy it and do whatever with it, even use it for your own speaking if you want and change it around etc.

So here yah - Session 1

Feel free to comment on it as well - session 2 soon

Phew!

Ok, feeling a lot better now, thanks for asking.
I dunno if life is like this for everyone but you know when you get these times when there's not much happening and then everything happens all at once in a really short space of time. Well that just happened.
Here's the last week and a bit.

Large brick order came through woo hoo!
Found out that a lump on my groin (no a bit higher than the other lump) was a femeral hernia. (docs and us thought it may have been lymphoma for a while until an ultrasound, bit scary)
Wedding for Michelle and Bean
Making bricks
1 whole day's of brick manufacturing no good due to an off ingredient, grrr.
Family arriving from Perth and US for mums 80th
Finishing exams and assignments for building study
Preparing for Teenscamp
Groin sore
Family week-long party begins amidst preparing for teens and kids finishing school.
Started teens camp just down the road.
Session one at teens in the morning, Birthday bash in the arvo, party goes on into the night - much fun is had by all.
Teens for session 2 on Sunday and the fam comes along so that T can take an ellective to horses, home late after grumpy and tired kids get the better of us.
Teens session 3 and teens finishes - awesome! (not that it finished, the camp was great!)
Pre admission at Hospital for surgery tomorrow.
Family party continues at our place tonight.
At hospital at 11 am Tues and I'm sitting in bed and everything has stopped. Suddenly from everything going nutso and then nothing - weird.
Surgery around 4.30pm.
Flying with the fairies on general antisthetic and morphein. 6cm slice on upper groin with some stainless mesh in there somewhere.
Nurse accidentally punches me in the stomach! Of all the places!
Morphein wears off - NOOOOOOOO! Can't hardly move, feels like they used my stomach as a trampoline!
Home recovering and playing video games with Brod's.
Nearly fixed, will be back into it Thursday.
The end - Phew!

Teens Camp then Pain!

For now all I'm saying is that teens camp is way more fun than having a hernia fixed! I'm in pain and am not sitting here any longer. Teens camp wrap soon. AAAAHHH!

Off to Teens Camp

Who said I was too old?

Fresh Switchfoot Vid - Nice

Footy's Back!

You Beauty! Don't worry I'm not going to post all the time about footy but this win over the Dockers was totally sweet! The Dockers, one of the favourites for the flag this year, beaten on home soil by the mighty(young)power, yeh, that feels good!

This made me crack up!

Join our Dreamteam league!

Hey all. Dunno who's interested but I sent an invitation around to some people a little while back to join an AFL dreamteam league. If you're interested then go HERE and this is my league number(988039). There's only a few days to go so join up and join some people from around OZ in some fun and footy.

The song you're listening to.

The song your listening to is a Switchfoot song (of course). It's called Faust, Midas and Myself and has an awesome message of the struggles / choices we make everyday. The final words are 'what direction, what direction'. To me this is saying we have a choice that is offered to us everyday. A choice to do what is right or not, a choice to be obedient or not. It makes a huge difference and could be life changing. You can find words Here (they're too long to print. :)

New PS3 . . . . Woo Hoo

More than $20 million worth of stock had been ordered by retailers in anticipation of large initial sales similar to when the PS3 went on sale in the US and Japan five months ago
Another example of how the consumerism of western society gloats in it's 'stuff'. $20million! Imagine what could be done with that in nations without food and here we are blowing it on a game. Come on. And they say it should still have a place in the living room for another whole ten years . . . . wow!? So then we'll spend another 40 million coz of inflation. How much would it cost to give a child a life for another ten years. How far would 20 million dollars go to support a family. Considering that 1.3billion people in the world live on just $1.00 a day 'http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/inequal/gates99.htm', that would mean that this money could support about 55,000 people for a year. Real lives. Not virtual lives on a TV screen.
C'mon Australia - let's get a grip!

Readers, sit up and read this . . . . .

This would have to be one of the most controversial and important blogs for the church and people to read. Have a look.
Scotts Blog

Nooma - RICH

I listened to this (in part) a few weeks back via the downloads at marshill.org - it's really good teaching and there are some awesome things to be thinking about!

Butter wouldn't melt?

Well, you'd think that with a face like this that something this cute could never hurt a fly. Well . . . . . maybe not a fly . . . . . . . how about a chicken? . . . . . . . . . or maybe a kangaroo?
I guess she (Lara the family shepherd x ridgeback dog) kind of thinks that if we can have chicken and roo on the barbi, she can have it rare.
It all started when one day we came home and couldn't find two of our chickens. If you look at the 'My Pics' link, one of them, rest its soul,(if they have one) is in Hannah's hands as a chick. Well one of them is still nowhere to be found to this day, just one clue of a few cute chicken feathers over the fence. The other one came back, well actually not the whole one just half. One leg, one wing and no head. There is a hopping chicken around, also flying in circles, somewhere in our vicinity. If you see it let us know coz it owes us some eggs. But wait . . . . there's more to the tail of Lara the not so farm dog. On Sunday the family is in the car ready to head to our gathering of people who follow Jesus, I refuse to say 'going to church', it's a bit of a thing in our fam at the moment, and I called out to see where our wonder dog was and . . . nowhere to be seen or heard . . . . . . Great! So off we go. After a short drive, by now about 20 minutes has gone by since we noticed she was gone, we stumble across some quite stressful looking ladies walking their Rhodesian Ridgebacks among the vines. Totally identifying with their stress I asked them if they'd seen a dog. Yes was the reply 'we saw them,(I thought, them?) a dog chasing a kangaroo in that direction' (south east) and 'you need to get a bigger fence!!!!'
Oh NO!
So we drove on a 100 metres and looking to the left of the road was an awesome sight. Down an isle of vines was the biggest kangaroo I have ever seen, standing on it's back legs and tail as tall as it could, 8-9 feet tall, no joke, and Lara was just laying down panting at it's feet, paws, whatever they are. They were both stuffed. Obviously they had been hopping and running for some time, long enough that they couldn't go any further and the kangaroo had decided to turn and fight rather than run. This didn't suit Lara as she didn't care about anything that wasn't running/hopping anymore. I called her over to the fence, one of many that the two had just scaled, and she just flopped down and couldn't be bothered getting over. Her mouth was covered in slobber and she was puffing like I have never seen her before. I carried her to the car, took her home and TIED her up.
New fencing soon.
Dog not so cute anymore.
Don't let chickens out anymore.
Had roo on the barbi the other night.

Great Lyrics

Been listening to a song on life fm for a while and I love the lyrics. Found out it's a 'Mercy Me' song.

'I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel
Just trying to be real
Trying to be real
I'm not trying to say follow me
I'm not the one who leads
I'm not the one who leads'

A great philosophy for life, being a follower of Jesus and for the church!

Helping out a Coffee Blogging co-blogger

Grendel, met him while blogging elsewhere, is in need of a hand. So if you love coffee and can help him out then that would be huge. He's raising funds to assist the Autism Association's Early Intervention Centre. If you have any ideas of how we can assist him here in SA,(grendel's in WA), that would be great.
As a starter I'm devoting the $ of all my iced coffee cartons to Grendel and his cause, if you have any iced coffee cartons then save them and get the cash and send them on or cans etc If there's any other ideas you have then lets hear em! Getting even more serious I may put aside all $ that I think of spending on Iced Coffee or that other nasty black n bubbly stuff and donate that towards beans for Grendel and drink water instead. If you'd like to join me then let me know.

This photo is amazing

Check this out! It's on Scotts Blog but I wanted to share it here coz it's so cool! This is a comment about it on the blog also;
"Sometimes the sky itself is the best show in town. On January 26, people from Perth, Australia gathered on a local beach to watch a sky light up with delights near and far. Nearby, fireworks exploded as part of Australia Day celebrations. On the far right, lightning from a thunderstorm flashed in the distance. Near the image center, though, seen through clouds, was the most unusual sight of all: Comet McNaught. The photogenic comet was so bright that it even remained visible though the din of Earthly flashes. Comet McNaught continues to move out from the Sun and dim, but should remain visible in southern skies with binoculars through the end of this month. The above image is actually a three photograph panorama digitally processed to reduce red reflections from the exploding firework."
God rocks! ps Hillary's was a special place for Teresea and I when we were in Perth, it's a great spot.

Is Tithing Biblically Correct?

This has always bothered me, tithing that is. I've never been absolutely comfortable with the whole deal and rarely spoke on it while preaching coz I was never 100% sure on it. Could Tithing be one of those things that we've been taught in Church circles yet haven't really studied it ourselves to see if it's actually Biblical?
Clicked on a link and came here http://bible-truths.com/tithing.html. It's a long read and I haven't finished it yet but I'd be interested in anyone's thoughts on this.

Can World's Strongest Dad

[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]
I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay For their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in Marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a Wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and Pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back Mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. On a bike. Makes Taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick Was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him Brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him And his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an Institution.''

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes Followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was Anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told. ``There's nothing going on in his brain.''

"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a Lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed Him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his Head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? ``Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the School organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want To do that.''

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran More than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he Tried. ``Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. ``I was sore For two weeks.''

That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, It felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly Shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

``No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a Single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few Years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then They found a way to get into the race Officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the Qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he Was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick Tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud Getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you Think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with A cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best Time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world Record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to Be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the Time.

``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a Mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries Was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' One doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.

``The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''

Mars Hill

Hey there, followed a link from another friend's blog and came across this place: http://www.marshill.org Check it out! You may know of Rob Bell from the Nooma series, he's a pastor / teacher here and you can get some great teaching mp3's to listen to in the car or on the mp3 player. Just listening to a series on 'Calling all peacemakers' - absolutely awesome!

Patriotism

Is it only me? I feel like this year's Australia Day was more patriotic than ever. Dunno if it's just the 'Big Day Out' thing of 'No Flags', which now smells more like reverse psychology than anything, or it could be the claiming Australia for who we are as opposed to some of the radical religious leaders that we have seen on the news lately. So I dunno, did you feel more patriotic this year or is it just me feeling funny?

Passion

Well it's a word that I have often used in the past when speaking but it really is such a crucial factor for the church and Christianity. Matt 6:21 talks about our treasure and where our heart is. Where our passion is, that's where we will put most of our effort and time, basically, that's what we'll worship.
So . . . what do we worship?
This is one of the hugest issues I see with the local Christian church today, authenticity and passion. For some reason other religions leave the local church for dead when it comes to passion, there are people who don't follow Jesus who are willing to die for what they believe. Often the general amount of passion that oozes out of the average Australian Christian is left for being bothered to get out of bed on a Sunday morning and singing a few songs, if you like singing that is.
So what does this mean for me as I ask myself if I'm passionate about a life with Jesus? Well, I have to say I am finding it really hard in the local church at the moment. I see the programs and people going through the motions of 'doing church' and I find myself really struggling to see the purpose of Sunday mornings.
I have to ask this question though, what exactly is a Christian?
If a Christian is someone who just goes to church on Sunday and serves the purpose of the Church alone then I would question whether or not they actually are a Christian.
I have come to believe that a Christian is someone who follows the authority, teaching, values, morals, life of Jesus Christ. Sorry, but I didn’t see Jesus in the NT just going to church every Sunday. Neither did He just hang out with those who followed Him or believed in Him, as a matter of fact none of those who followed Him to begin with were ‘Christians’. (might want to just let that soak in :) )
So, a Christian, as I have learned, believes that Jesus is the son of God (Yahweh) who came to us in human form. They believe that because of humankind’s inherited sin, Jesus paid for the penalty of that sin in dying on the cross. He proved then that he has conquered death by being raised from the dead and is coming back. A Christian then understands that they are made right, not by anything they can do but simply through Jesus’ forgiveness and the mighty mercy and grace that God has shown. Romans 9:10 says something like, if you believe this in your heart and then speak it out then you'll be saved. Simple as that! This is awesome! It is in this that my passion emerges!!
Now it’s important to be encouraged and to encourage and learn more with other Christians and that’s where church comes into things. However, if this becomes more important than following Jesus and being his messengers, then we start to lose the passion and the purpose of being a follower of Christ in the first place. Not only that, but we become irrelevant and religious, we lose the real meaning of following Jesus and when we lose that we lose our passion and when we lose that, then why would anyone else want to be a Christian?

The thing is I think we have been so programmed to be passionate in certain ways that we've lost what it means to be really authentic about our love for Jesus all the time.
Read this the other day by

Hamo

"I would gaurantee an institional church full of people radically devoted to Jesus will always be more impactful than a new expression where the Jesus factor is dispassionate."

Like it!

Passion?

Back to Study

Well, yep loved it so much I can't get away from it! BTW early last year finally received that bachelor degree that means I can finally be a pastor in a church, just as well huh?
Anyway, now I'm back to the building thing with the Master Builders Association SA. Doing 5 modules and by the end of the year, because of my trade and my business I'll have my building supervisor's / contractors license and can build Timbercrete homes as well as make the bricks. I'm excited!

Incarnational V Attractional Mission

This is a good thought provoking read about mission and the local church by Andrew Hamilton. It's a bit old (2005) but here's a taste, click on the title to go to the link.

If Jesus were alive today and his mission was still to ‘seek out and save the lost’ what might he do?…

Would he hire a building, set up a sound system, develop a music team, drama team, and then do local letterbox drops advising people that they could come and be part of his church on Sunday? Frankly I don’t believe this approach to mission would rate a blip on his strategic radar.

Oh! Gravity.,

Just received the new Switchfoot CD via the US via Ebay. This is awesome! I have a couple of new additions to the CD pile courtesy of a recent birthday and then Christmas. (The other way to add to the pile is to buy CD’s you like for the kids. :) so they received a couple for Chrissy as well. :) :) ) Anyway, has anyone ever listened to a CD and drawn closer to God without it actually being a ‘God is the king of the world’ type lyric? (not derogatory, I hope you get the drift) Today while listening to the Switchfoot CD, it really impacted me. Their lyrics are so rich, there’s also heaps of them, lyrics that is. They jam a lot of lyrics in a very short space, mainly I think as they have such a powerful message to tell. I’m still trying to understand them all and what I get out of them probably won’t be the same for others or maybe even Switchfoot intended. There’s a lot of focus on getting our eyes off the world and what it offers and on to higher things, in my view and maybe their’s, eternal things. The title track, ‘Oh Gravity’, I reckon is saying that we as people are so stuck to this earth that we can’t see past it to what is real and how we can make a difference. That really echo’s with their last CD Nothing is Sound and in particular the song ‘Stars’. It’s the last song of this CD that really caused me to shift my focus toward God, ‘Let your love be strong’ here’s an excerpt:

Let your love be strong, and I don't care what goes down
Let your love be strong enough to weather through the thunder cloud
Fury and thunder clap like stealing the fire from your eyes
All of my world hanging on your love

Let the wars begin, let my strength wear thin
Let my fingers crack, let my world fall apart
Train the monkeys on my back to fight
Let it start tonight
When my world explodes, when my stars touch the ground
Falling down like broken satellites

All of my world resting on your love

The song really made me think, that if all crashes around me then the love of God is always there ever sustainable.
These guys rock, they have a lot of guts and they really have the best lyrics I have ever heard, so thought provoking. The other best part is their style, I love it.
The other CD I was given and wanted was Guy’s new one. Loving strong vocals I was really keen on this. It’s good as a cheap listen but as far as depth goes, let’s just say Switchfoot rock!

Success#2

Well I've been thinking about this for some time now and it really is an important issue to think about. Thanks to those who responded to the last small one on

This Link

I think Nickers has some extra good stuff and I reckon we could call it subject closed but i'd like to take it a bit further coz it's my blog and I can :) Success was a huge theme that came out of the latest Timbercrete conference and it was sooo good to hear about success from a Godly point of view.
The cliche` 'Christian' view of success is probably something like, success is found in God and not man. Now I'm not saying this isn't true coz it is, but how many Christian's say (or think in their head) God is their success, yet continue to find true success in other area's of this life on earth.
It's important at this time to recognise the fact that I think we as people still need to do our best on this earth in whatever God places in our path, but to say that we are a failure because we didn't meet a deadline, broke something, cost someone lots of many, didn't get a job, didn't finish study or don't have much money etc etc, I believe is a down right lie that needs to be rejected. To also say that someone or a business is a success for making or having all those things I just listed, is also a lie but it is the benchmark that everyone on this earth rates themselves with.
Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 clearly states that the wisdom of God is different than people's wisdom. We weigh everything in something tangible, something we can see, feel or touch, God doesn't. Because of this, true success, I beleive, is not found in what I can see, touch, feel, hear etc It's what I have faith in, what I believe God says is true success. The closest example of God I know is Jesus. In Matthews writings about Jesus He said don't worry about anything else just seek God first and everything you need will all fall into place. Does that mean if I put God first my business will go banana's and I won't have to worry again about finances!??? er . . nup, coz in the last book of the bible in the letters to the seven churches, Jesus says to them something like if you be obedient, listen to me . . you'll . . . sit with me on my throne . . . have my name inscribed on them . . . not be hurt by the second death. The reward is in the kingdom, it's eternal, it's spiritual not necessarily earthly.
So, here's what I reckon. God say's your a success and loves you simply because He made you with His very own hands, not because you do anything (Eph 2:8). If we can then understand that success is in that belief and follow God's path, and not people's measure of success, then our reward is far beyond anything this world will ever offer, the reward is eternal. This is so comforting to me. I get bombarded with people asking me all the time how business is going, sometimes it's because people care, sometimes it's just something to talk about but I know others are probably measuring me to see if I'm a success or not. I feel when people ask this, that if business isn't going great, I am a failure to them. Thankfully, through the eye's of Jesus I'm not. My prayer is that as business picks up I don't fall into the trap myself of thinking I'm successful just because business is going good, you know what I mean?
I was reading the first chapter Mark the other night and saw this spot in verse 37 where Jesus' friends were hastling Him to go to the people but Jesus was foccused and wasn't going to just please people and he stated that we have to move on fella's there other places I have to go as well. His focus was on His Father's plans not the plans of others.
If anyone has ever seen Jerry Macguire there's a dude at the end, I can't remember his name, and he says 'I love my life and I love my wife, I wish you my kind of success'. Jesus says; love God and love the people around you.
I wish you His kind of success for 2007 and beyond.