Timbercrete Retaining Wall Blocks

I hate all your show

After being a fan of Switchfoot for a fair while I have been keen to hear Jon Foreman's [lead vocalist of Switchfoot, not pianist from Australian idol :) ] individual cd, 'Limbs and Branches'. Knowing though that it was a bit softer on the ear from what I was used to with Switchfoot I wasn't oozing with enthusiasm. A friend lent the cd to me a short time ago and I've been loving it. Not just because of his music though but because of Jon's heart and cutting lyrics, probably the foundational reason I have respected Switchfoot for so long.

The BIG song on the cd for me is 'I hate all your show'. It pretty much comes from the bible - Isaiah 1:11-17 but also has a bit in it from what seems like Jon's experience of Church (as an institution) and what the Church has or hasn't been to people.

The picture to me, of Church from the song and when thinking of the mainstream church through the eyes of the verses in Isaiah, is like a religious place where religious practices are organised but rarely do they make an impact on the majority of people living on this earth and rarely is it what God is looking for in His people. This is a generalistic comment but I think it would be reasonably fair to say that through what I have experienced, more time and resources have been spent on religious practices in the mainstream church than simply being a group of people eagerly attempting to be more like Jesus to the people around them & the world in need.

The contrast for me is that Jesus made an impact on people pretty much everywhere he traveled .

This has made me think long and hard about the impact I allow Jesus to have through me without leaning on the fact that I go to a church every Sunday and this being the facade that states I am a follower of Jesus.

Here's the lyrics:
I hate all your show and pretense
The hypocrisy of your praise
The hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show

Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stop up my ears when you’re singing ‘em
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show

Your eyes are closed when you’re praying
You sing right along with the band
You shine up your shoes for services
There’s blood on your hands

You turned your back on the homeless
And the ones that don’t fit in your plan
Quit playing religion games
There’s blood on your hands

Instead let there be a flood of justice
An endless procession of righteous living, living
Instead let there be a flood of justice
Instead of a show
I hate all your show

Let’s argue this out
If your sins are blood red
Let’s argue this out
You’ll be one of the clouds
Let’s argue this out
Quit fooling around
Give love to the ones who can’t love at all
Give hope to the ones who got no hope at all
Stand up for the ones who can’t stand at all, all

I hate all your show
I hate all your show
I hate all your show
I hate all your show

Latest

Well, been a while since the last post so thought I'd scribble because of avoidance to other tasks while eating a toasted ham sandwich.
So we sold the block of land so that's cool. Hopefully we'll get another one soon but we might just hang off and see what then interest rates do. This means I'm getting a new car. A Holden Crewman, I love it and should have it in a couple of days.
I'm hanging for footy to start. I've landed a position as coach of McLaren U14's after sitting an interview in front of a panel of 7 people. I've never had a job interview with that many people and this isn't even paid! I also can't wait for the Power to start playing again. New faces and players, new fitness coach and Josh Carr back (Thanks Mark) should be a good year in 2009.
Spoke and sang at NCCC last Sunday A.M and if there's anything I miss at times from the Institutional style of church it's the Singing and Preaching. All in God's time though.
Otherwise, business is a tad slow but am hopeful of it picking up in the new year.
That's about all for now.

Pagan Christianity; where it hits the road

Here's an excerpt from Pagan Christianity, I love it! I think it's the type of gathering when we meet together that we're discovering and want to pursue. See what you think. . . .

Pg 78 - "What I have written about open meetings under the headship of Christ is not fanciful theory. I have participated in such meetings for the last nineteen years.
Such meetings are marked by incredible variety. They are not bound to a one-man, pulpit-dominated pattern of worship. There is a great deal of spontaneity, creativity, and freshness. The overarching hallmark of these meetings is the visible headship of Christ and the free yet orderly functioning of the body of Christ. I was in such a meeting not too long ago. Let me describe it to you.
About thirty of us gathered together in a home and greeted one another. Some of us stepped into the center of the living room and began singing a capella. Quickly, the entire church was singing in unison, arms around one another. Someone else began another song, and we all joined in. Between each song, prayers were uttered by different people. Some of the songs had been written by the members themselves. We sang several of the songs several times. Some people turned the words of the songs into prayers. On several occasions, a few of the members exhorted the church in relation to what we had just sung.
After we sang, rejoiced, spontaneously prayed, and exhorted one another, we sat down. Then, very quickly, a woman stood and began explaining what the Lord had showed her during the week. She spoke for about three minutes. After she sat down, a man stood up and shared a portion of Scripture and exalted the Lord Jesus through it. Next another gentleman stood up to add a few very edifying words to what he said. A woman then broke into a new song that went right along with what the two men had just shared. The whole church sang with her. Another woman stood and read a poem that the Lord had given her during the week . . . and it meshed perfectly with what the others had shared up to that point.
One by one, brothers and sisters in Christ stood up to tell us what they had experienced in their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that week. Exhortations, teaching, encouragements, poems, songs, and testimonies all followed one right after the other. And a common theme, one that revealed the glories of Jesus Christ, emerged. Some of those gathered wept.
None of this was rehearsed, prescribed, or planned. Yet the meeting was electric. It was so rich, so glorious, and so edifying that it became evident to everyone that someone was indeed leading the meeting. But He was not visible. It was the Lord Jesus Christ! His headship was being made manifest among His people. We were reminded again that He in fact is alive … alive enough to direct His Church."

We experienced this on Sunday as God lead us in great discussion on community, on what it means to love each other, on being the parts of the body. It started with some delving into His word with simple application and then it was discussed and really struggled with for over an hour. What I loved most is that it really hit home what it means to be the body and we all went away very affected and challenged to the point that we can't not do something about it. That to me this is learning and teaching and I didn't have to just sit there in rows of seats listening to someone . . . .

Nice Balls!!

The fella's at Enabled have come up with an awesome application for the iphone. If I get an iphone I'm getting me some of these!

Article

Aldinga Beach Land for Sale

Fantastic piece of land, perfect for the lover of country life and the coast. A big 1224m2 block, great for shedding and room to swing a cat or two.
Not even 5 minutes to the beach and close to shops etc this is a great buy!
Get it now and I'll throw in some steak knives!LINK

Agree to Disagree??

I was reading Philippians 2 last night at our gathering and something jumped out at me that I hadn't really noticed before. In the NLT it reads in vs 2 "Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one heart and purpose."
Then the phrase came to me from times past 'it's ok to agree to disagree'. . . Paul, here in Philippians, was trying to get the people to unite and stop arguing, it displeased him and obviously it seems to not be the ideal reflection of the body of Christ. After all Jesus says in John 15 I think, something like, my desire is that they (the disciples / followers) would be one as we (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)are one. Because of this verse in Philippians i'm now questioning that phrase, agreeing to disagree, i think it may be a cop-out. I have seen the destruction of disagreeance and from that, disharmony and then the destruction of relationships. On the other hand I have seen what it is like to be a part of a community that agree with each other in heart and purpose. The harmony the relationship, the fact that you can move on as a group and not be just putting out spotfires of disagreeance etc. Does this mean that in everything about life the community need to agree? Well I reckon that could be boring, maybe robotic, maybe cultish. On the core parts of that community though, maybe to agree to disagree isn't good enough. Maybe it should be worked out until agreeance has been settled? Let's face it if this Tiger and this man can agree not to kill each other, maybe we could learn to try and agree on less important things and move forward in love and harmony?

New Blog

CALLED OUT

Can't believe it's been a year since the last Eco Living Expo. This show was very good for us this last year, if this year is as good or better that would be great!
So if you're in the area come along! See many green and eco products, such as Timbercrete and help this Earth of ours stay around a bit longer.

Bring it on!!!!

Carbon-Negative Building with Timbercrete®

Great article HERE on building homes that leave a Negative Carbon footprint. Many building products such as clay bricks, use a huge amount of carbon gas to manufacture and then may also not give the home any better thermal benefits or long term energy savings. It pays to look into the products that we use everyday just to see what it takes to manufacture and then how much impact it has on our environment to use.

Being a community of faith

In being a part of an institutional style of church for many years I have come to understand that for many who may attend on a Sunday the church is just that . . . Sunday. Unless of course there are meetings to attend beyond that day.
This makes me concerned about what it means to be a faith community or community of faith.
This of course is what many churches may have been called or known by but I would probably say that it isn't a very true reflection of what the church really is.
We talked about this on Sunday and discussed what our church community would look like if we all lived by faith in God everyday. What does that look like as a community of people? What would it mean to not just fit into the world but to live by faith in God that he is the provider and that he is the total leader. That we don't just do our work, go here, go there because we have always done it but we give our time to what / who God is leading us to. That we don't just spend our $ on whatever we normally may but that everything we had was considered as God's and for His purpose.
What sort of an impact would this type of community have on a broader community?

Timbercrete at the Home Living Expo

Timbercrete Adelaide South had a great weekend at the Home Living Expo this last weekend. Many future possibilities and leads that could be very exciting.
Sorry for not posting lately, been flat out!

Transperancy and Analysis

If only Businesses, Churches, maybe even as people we had analysis like this! There is something about the honesty here and self evaluation that is really good. Some of us don't cope too well with being transperant and allowing others to help us to grow but it seems a footy club is heading in the right direction here. Makes me wonder if there are many things that could be adopted to church life and life in general.
Here's a snippet of what I'm talking about:
"We have a guy by the name of Tim Hart who is employed to sit in the box with the aim, purely, of improving us as coaches.

Before the game, Tim comes into the rooms and senses what the mood is like, how he feels the players are receiving what the coaches are saying and how the players are responding to it.

He listens to our communication in the box and looks at the rotations each coach calls. Tim also assesses how productive we are, how we use statistics and how reactive and clear in thought we are.
Full Article

Power Disaster!

Four losses in a row! We were 47 points up near three quarter time. Too arrogant. Time for some newbies. My Hunch: Out goes Westhoff and Ebert, Thomas out injured for a few weeks. So, in comes White or Willits, Robbie Gray and Adam Thompson. Something has to happen from an effort like that!

Prayer

These blogs have had me thinking about prayer and the usual styles of what we've done in the past. It's been great to read. We've started experimenting with prayer in these ways in our own group and as individuals. I'm really excited about what this means in deepening our relationship with God. Check em out.
Here
Here
and Here

Buildings and Wages in Western Church?

The Christian church has created a bit of an issue I believe and that is the drain that buildings and wages has on its purpose.
It's pretty much common knowledge in church circles that the larger percentage of a church's resources / funds, are spent on the inner goings on of church itself. When I was in a formal ministry role, something like 40% of all income was spent on the pastor's wages. It raises questions for me and the validity of paid pastors. What also is an issue is the dollars spent on buildings, maintenance, technology etc so that a church stays functional.
I have to question whether this money spent really fulfills the purpose of church. Is it not more like Jesus to give to the needy, use the funds for mission in some form, more than on the inner sanctum, more than the importance of the Sunday service?
I can't help but think of the church from the perspective of people on the outside looking in, especially here in Australia. What they see is sometimes a fairly well-to-do institution that can come across as judgmental and middle class. A fair target for an Aussie's tall poppy syndrome. Would it not be more effective if it was humble, generous, more concerned with the community around them and heavily grounded in reality, functioning for the purpose of people?
Where your heart is will probably determine where the $ are spent.

Can an AFL footballer love God and Footy?

Just read a very interesting Article by Caroline Wilson about Daniel Wells who is a top-line player for the North Melbourne footy club and is obviously , by reading the article, a church attendee / believer in God.

The read leans towards stating that because of Daniel’s love for God, then maybe, his love and passion for footy is waning after not playing one convincing game on the weekend?

Now we know that the media are trying to sell a paper so I’m going to take the actual article with a pinch of salt but this is something I have often wondered about, that if a club or any other institution asks for a very strong commitment to something, can the world of passionately following Jesus and passionately following the club/institution/whatever, co-exist?

In the past for me this would have been far more difficult to answer. My upbringing has leant towards two different lives existing here on this earth. People that follow Jesus and are on the good side and people that don’t and are on the other side. This is the best blunt view I can come up with, there would be some space in between at times.

I can remember playing sport on Sundays and feeling incredibly guilty because I didn’t attend a church service. Whether this was guilt put on me or how I just felt I’m not sure but what I do know is that it came from a perception that doing something other, something that I loved to do, than going to church on that Sunday made me feel weird, as if I was doing something wrong. This wasn’t just about attending church though, this was about my relationship with God and the teaching I had received, both in word and example, that the two loves of sport and God were opposing, not complimentary.

I’m guessing this comes from the whole salt and light thing where scripture does seem to make some distinctions about what is right and wrong behavior, whether to be ‘in’ the world and not ‘of’ it etc How vehemently this is taught will probably have a bearing of what our view of how the world and relationship with God can co-exist.

Another example of this would be how in Trade School I wouldn’t go and have a beer with the other guys because to me alcohol was wrong so I simply wouldn’t go, I didn’t even entertain the thought of having a coke with them there just to build relationship because the pub was one of those places you just avoided. This affected my relationship with those guys big time. I had a turbulent relationship with them all as they probably thought I was arrogant and judgmental, not wanting to do those ‘bad’ things they were doing.

So, let’s cut to the chase.

I’ve had a fair bit of growing to do. In my relationship with God, in discovering who I am, through pastoring in the church, in discovering life and what it means to follow Jesus passionately and try and keep relationships as important and not let ‘religion’ rule my actions. To try and follow Jesus and what I believe He wants of my life and my interaction with this world I’ve come to understand that this isn’t about playing a religious game but just trying to be like Jesus in everything I do and learn what that means, rediscovering this all the time.

One of the refreshing parts of this journey is the understanding I have come to that God is at work in all places, in people who attend church and in people who don’t. I figure if I’m just involved church and church is my life and God is impacting someone ‘out there’ then doesn’t He want people like me to help them understand who this God is? Doesn’t He want me to be the hands and feet of Jesus wherever I go? Doesn’t he want AFL footballers to know Jesus too? What about people in the pub? People I am friends with? God is at work in them, He loves them. If oneday they are having a God moment and they don’t even realize, maybe God may want me to help them understand that God is real and He is at work. Maybe they may actually see in me something they feel is missing, maybe that’s God?

So can the two co-exist? This I believe, is what we were actually created for. Created for God and for people wherever we are, whatever we do. The reason, I believe, why sometimes we feel they can’t co-exist, is because going to church and the religion that has been created of the years, has caused us to separate real life and Christianity. We have also been very comfortable inside our church walls. . . . .

So can Daniel Wells be passionate about footy and God? Yes, because life was meant to be this way and while much of footy at this level is about $, the reality is that people make it happen and where people are, God wants to work in them . . . doesn’t He?

Obviously there are going to be some boundaries that God may want of us, like I’m not going to join a gang of thieves and be a thief to build relationships?? This is not all black and white though is it?

So my advice to Daniel would be: Make the kingdom of God your primary concern, love Him with all your heart, live life how He wants you to live. Love people in the best way you possibly can and do your very best with the gifts that God has given. . . . . . . I think we understand this isn’t just for Daniel.

Just so you know . . . . beer is great!

Glenno's Footy Predictions 08

Funny thing that everyone seems to have written Port off this year, Inside Sport had Port sitting at 14^th! Go Figure.

My prediction? A Port vs Geelong Grand Final reborn. Both teams have developed a fast running / attacking style of game that can blow away negative style tactics. I think they have the hop on other teams still trying to shut the game down or play defensive. Look out for some huge winning / losing margins this year, tipping a new record (yes . . . other than that horrible day last September) of winning margin, possibly Geelong / Port v Melbourne. I’m a bit concerned with Port’s defense, which won’t be an issue if they possess the ball enough and they do have some handy guys in defense stepping up.

Geelong are far from done after last year’s GF and actually have the possibility, in my opinion, of being up there for the next few seasons. With the likes of Bartel, Gary Ablett, & Joel Corey still in the young era, they have plenty ahead of them.

I’m with Markedly on the boot to Terry, that’s like a gimme. Anyone else going? What about Neil Craig? I think the Crows, despite good pre-season performance, will be lucky to make the top 10. They have left development way too late and injuries will get the better of the oldies in 2008.

Sainters are looking the goods but against Port they have a shocking record. When they come to finals they crumble unless they pip the cats and meet Port in the GF.

Some other predictions....

1. Wallace will get the boot well before round 12 and Melbourne will win the most unwanted spoon in the AFL not far from Richmond. Melbourne has a struggling list and need a financial boost. I think their coach is great but without support not sure where it will go except for bottom of the heap.

2. Collingwood and Mick Malthouse? Don’t see them going to well either, make way for Bucks! Lookout also for our friendly Cousins fella wooing his way into the Magpie Flock.

3. Johnothan Brown or Buddy Franklin for Coleman Medalist, Port play too much of a team game and have too many scorers for one man to take the prize. :)

4. The AFL will declare that Eagles are on their last chance for the 23rd time and Fevola will be given 10 more slaps on the bottom before he is made captain and mayor of Melbourne!

5. Ladder Prediction 2008: Cats, Power, Saints, Freo, Hawks, Eagles, Bulldogs, Swans, Nth Melb, Lions, Blues, Bombers, Magpies, Crows, Tigers, Demons.

6. Watch out for Marlon Motlop for the rising star award.

Don't forget Dream team registration

Not Just Big Fevola

Was watching Footy Confidential last night and the latest Brendon Fevola undisciplined action has come out about him causing some issues at a restaurant in Melbourne. The 'Confidential' team raised the issue of him being there at the time of 4.15am.
The issue now is whether or not he will be suspended for his action, probably according to his priors.
This gets me riled!
Here is a man who is on the leadership team of a an AFL club, he has great influence whether directly or indirectly and his action or discipline, or lack of, sets a standard.
This isn't just about Fev though this is about all players in all teams and the standards that the clubs set down.
What really gets up my goat though was that a former player would say that he shouldn't be suspended and not punish the whole team for one man's actions! This is where it becomes interesting. Why? Because I feel that this is where it becomes more about winning in the short term and $$$$ than the overall effectiveness of the club for the future.
Really it shouldn't matter who the player is, (and if this was one Carlton's rookies it would be interesting) there should be a standard, a high standard and if the leadership group are undisciplined it should carry a higher penalty.