Here is the flyer I have done up for our spring fair.
This annual event is well organised and a big event on our church calender. Probably the biggest thing we do and the most strategic in 'gathering' in all the people who come to our various community programs.

well......
that's the footy season over.
I copped some well deserved ribbing this morning at church, and managed to weave the GF into my children's talk at church.

Well done weagles, after the dissapointment of losing both derbies this year, it was good to see them win something.

Worsfold, to his credit, coached well, probably outcoached Roo's, with some creative and quick moves.

Barry Hall had a shocker, and probably was one of the reasons they lost, but Kerr and Embley played out of their skin.

Roll on 2007.
Brett Peake for Brownlow, Freo for Premiers.

Apparently there is a football game on.
Will I as a patriotic West Australia be barracking for the Eagles?
I don't think so.

Football is not about State rivalries, its about tribalism.
You wont see Crows fans supporting Port when they are in the GF.
You wont see Collingwood fans supporting Carlton against anyone.

I go for two teams, the Dockers and whoever is playing the Eagles. GO SWANNIES!

If the Eagles win, good luck to them, and it will be well deserved.
But I wont be cheering them on.

Listening to a message by Erwin of Mosaic church.
Great speaker,

great book, "seizing your divine moment".

He brings alive the character of Jonathon, what a warrior!!

Thank you Matt,
you make the bitterness of defeat, a little bit easier to swallow.
We have grown up as a side, and I really believe that next year could be ours.

"The Dockers were valiant and Sydney, on balance, the superior side. But for a moment in the third quarter, we scared the reigning premiers witless. The umpiring didn't cost Fremantle the match, but unambiguously poor decisions gifted Sydney easy crucial goals and deprived the Dockers of momentum. The game was much, much closer than its six-goal margin.
The holding-the-ball rule is a crucifix too far. The Dockers had crept to within seven points when young defender Stephen Dodd fought for the ball with four Swans defenders. Umpire Stephen McBurney's absurd misjudgment, that Dodd dragged the ball under, produced a crucial Swans goal and should cost McBurney a grand final berth.
If this sounds petty and bitter and biased, let me repeat: Sydney deserved its victory. The dragging rule is a disgrace almost whenever it is applied - penalising courage and effort and encouraging over-theatrical officiating - and the Swans copped some stiff decisions, too."
Story

Another great Sunday.
Some old friends returned, nice to see Tony and Hanalie (Spelling?) Peck at church.

Eliot did a great rendition of "Consume me" an old song of DC Talk, and I spoke on spiritual disciplines, including fasting.

Amazing how God moved. I felt the need for their to be a response, so I asked some people to pray at the end for something that was really burdening them. Some people did, which was great.

Dockers go down and bow out of finals race.
If you had told me that we would participate in a prelim final after round 10, I would have definetley taken it.

Our best year yet, with improvement to come from 2007's All Australian Ruckman, 2007 Brownlow medalist Brett Peake, and Paul Hasleby to return fully fit, the future looks bright for this bunch of Dockers.

Dockers, biggest winners out of 2007. Biggest losers, Geelong and St Kilda a close second.
What I mean is, based on pre season expectations, Freo have exceeded predictions, the Cats and Saints have really done worse than expected.

Dockers Prayer
Our Father who lives in Fremantle
Hallowed be thy game,
Thy purple comeThe game be won
At Telstra, as it is at Subi.
Give us this day your freakish goal
And forgive us our poor passes,
As we forgive those who give free kicks against us,
And lead us not into the pocket
But deliver us down the corridor.
For Finals are Kingdom,
The Power and the Glory,
For ever and ever,
Amen.

I am reading Bill Hybels book at the moment, "Just walk across the room".

The basic premise is that if we want to share our faith, we just need to walk across the room and share it. Everyone is on a spiritual journey, and our task is to help them with that, not dominate it, force our opinion down their throat, just share our own faith.
Bill Hybels has changed, or at least my perception of him has changed. His approach and encouragement is to be relational, incarnational now than what we had demonstrated to us in his past endevours. Age has brought with it wisdom.
I believe that we still need something to bring people to, but we need to be with them in order to do that.

At my niece's birthday the other day I struck up a conversation with one of my sisters neighbours. Turns out he was a vietnam vet and his best friend was a 'sky pilot' or navy chaplain. His friend stepped on a land mine and was killed. This guy opened up his heart and just shared it with me, a divine moment. Thank God I seized it and shared with him about some of my story. I had to go, but could not pass up the opportunity to take that next step. So I asked him if he was a reader. He said he was so I asked him if I could send him a copy of "The Purpose Driven Life". He said yes and I have done that with a note to call me if he ever wants to.
Hopefully I will meet him again some time.

This is basically what Bill's book is about.
Jesus offers people the "good life". A life of purpose and meaning. We are here to share this. We dont have to lead them in the sinners prayer right then and there, we just have to do our little part, just walk across the room.

I'll let you know more about the book as I read through it.

While working at home today I have spent about 2 hours on and off trying to get through to Tickmaster. They really need to do something about this.

If, and it is a big IF, the Dockers beat Sydney at Telstra Stadium this week I have registered for a Grand Final Ticket. You dont get a choice on what type you want, or the cost or the seating. But you are almost guaranteed a ticket.

Getting through was really hard, the phone was mostly busy, but even when you got through, it mostly just rang out.

Then when you did get through the menu was confusing because we have been told to press ONE, when in fact you actually needed to press TWO.

None the less, I have my pre-registration.

Come on you MIGHTY DOCKERS.
It would be great to have another chance at the Crows. I think West Coast probably have as much chance of beating them in Adelaide as we do of beating Sydney.

We have these facts in our favour
Sandilands is BIG, Jolly wont like that.
The Telsta Stadium is BIG, about the same size as Subi, The Swans wont like that.
The Dockers Confidence is BIG, the Swans wont like our risk taking.

Wayne Field has a blog
Wayne is a good mate, and Pastor of Australind Baptist Church


Blog

Our church website is up and running
At this stage it is just a splash page, we needed to get onto this because now with the church sign, people may actually visit it!

www.bedfordbaptist.org.au


thanks to Quentin and the crew at
www.frecklecreative.com.au

who do exceptional work

Rick Warren has released a great article on fundamentalism, and its danger.
Worth a read.

"These are among the fundamental truths of our Christian faith (or, to use another phrase, they are foundational truths to our faith).
Now, if you believe that these fundamental truths are essential to the Christian faith, then you are a "fundamentalist" in the very basic sense of the word, and within that definition and context Saddleback Church is unapologetically fundamentalist.
There is, however, another kind of fundamentalism that has nothing to do with fundamentals of the Christian faith; instead, it is about keeping the right rules in the right way order to please the right people. "

Article

With Chris Connolly declaring Antoni Grover and Luke Mc Pharlin almost certain starters for next weeks Preliminary Final against Sydney, the question is, which unlucky defender will be dropped.

After one of the most even team contributions all year against Melbourne, it will not be an easy task.

Shane Parker is in career best form. Luke Mc Pharlin offers too much flexibility and skill. Roger Hayden's dynamic form reversal has been one of the key reasons for the Dockers turn around mid season.

The only likely exclusion might be 'Mr Fix it' Luke Webster. This despite a 14 possession game against Melbourne and kicking the first Fremantle goal.

One interesting statistic that might make it even more difficult for the match committee is the fact that since Webster was included in the side, in round ten, his first game for 2006, Fremantle have only lost one game, and Webster did not play in that game. In fact Webster has not played in a losing Fremantle side this year. This is a similar state of affairs to Clem Michael many years ago, when he too was a tall running player who also seemed to be a team barometer of success.

Grover's value to the team, especially in facing the strong Barry Hall, is unquestioned. But the quandary of who will miss out may not be answered till 20 minutes before bounce down on Friday night.

In a late postscript, Paul Medhurst may also push for a shock inclusion after almost singlehandedly giving Claremont victory over South Fremantle. Paul kicked five goals and impressed with his endevour and team work in a losing side as the Tigers bowed out of the finals race this afternoon.

We experienced a really great sense of God's Spirit in Church this morning. Although there was not a full house of people, I sensed a real hunger to hear from God. It was evidenced in the outward display of worship and enjoyment of things that were being said and done.
I prepared a multi-media presentation (video) using Colin Battersby's rendition of "It is well". I did up this video for the Pastors Conference and it told the story of Horatio Spafford. Horatio endured a lot of tradgedy in his life including the loss of his business but far more tragically first the death of his son, then at a later point the death of his three daughters in a shipwreck. His wife survived. On his way to visit her he wrote the well known hymn, "It is well".

We said a sad goodby to some friends who are moving to NZ, but also said 'thank God" when some other friends declared God was not calling them to move to QLD, as they previously thought He might be.

Dr Laurence Spencer, the Baptist Union President then brought a word from God which he believed was specifically for our church. The challenge was to take seriously Jesus' call that, "they will know you are Christians by your love". He was really well recieved. I think some of that was to do with the combination of a older guy who was a expressive worshipper, wise words and non judgemental challenge. He was sensitive to Gods leading, and interacted really well with our people. The sort of older and wiser guy you would love to have in your church actually!

Preparing my message for Sunday week.
Really sense God calling me to revisit a topic I used to speak on a bit few years ago, worship.
Here are some themes flowing through my mind...

No, this is not a spiritual post!

The Melbourne Demons were sent home last night without the chocolates as Freo stormed home to a historical first finals win.

Melinda and I had seats in block 137 and quit frankly, the home crowd was the loudest I have ever heard.
It was extraordinary in fact. Listening to the replay on channel 10 when I got home, Anthony Hudson is heard remarking to Tim Lane, just as they come back from an ad, "Listen to that crowd, that is extraordinary".
James Hird also commented during the week, "The Fremantle crowd is the loudest and most passionate of any in the league". High praise indeed.

It was a nervous crowd, a passionate crowd, an exhilirating ride as we watched Freo play once more with confidence and risk. Chris Connolly remarked after the game that after last weeks fairly dissapointing effort, he encouraged the players to get back to the risky confident football that saw us storm into 3rd spot on the ladder. He said that the players were almost playing too risky tonight, which saw some mistakes being made. But quite frankly, I would back our running brigade against any side.

Thank goodness the game against Sydney is being played on the wide expanses of Telstra Stadium, and not the confinement of the SCG. I reckon we are a silly chance to beat the Swans there, and if we do...... I am off to Melbourne.

This is a Pastor of a church who meets in a old church that is now a bar. After the Saturday night drinking and strip club next door, it is transformed into a theatre style church. He puts out tables and chairs and they have discussions about Jesus and life.

His wife prepares a whole heap of multimedia and about 250 people now meet. He started the church off with cell groups which then morphed into a church. Awesome story.

Story

Rodney Eade has come out and said something a lot of footy lovers have known for ages,
the West Coast Eagles have no soul.

They are a corporate identity, franchised and packaged for maximum consumption.
At the derby I was bewildered by the karaoke Eagles theme song at the start. Don't the fans know the words?
The Dockers song may be accused of being inane, like a dirge, but its fans know the words, and sing them with gusto. Your typical Dockers supporter does not need to be told how to support their team, they just do!

Then the Eagles are given this chant at quarter time over the loudspeaker, "Go Eagles go, SGIO, go Eagle go, SGIO". Does anyone else not see the problem with this?

The final nail in their coffin is this one.

Many Eagle supporters cannot understand why Dockers supporters.....

a. Support the Dockers at all especially with our lack of success. You dont support a team because they are succesful. There is something about them that just grabs you. Ask Gareth why he supports St Kilda? Or a Richmond supporter why they support that basket case of a team. They cant tell you why, they just do. And it burns within them.

b. Don't support the Eagles as well
A common line heard is this, "I support both WA teams". What a joke. What a passionless statement. Imagine if a Victorian supporter of Carlton said, "because Carlton are out of the finals, I will support Collingwood, after all we are both Victorian teams". Give me a break. Passionate supporters support their own team, and thats it.

Dockers supporters can't stand the Eagles, its as simple as this. I much prefer a discussion with a passionate Eagles supporter who can't stand the Dockers, than one whohalf likes them. We understand each other, its nothing personal, we just can't stand your team. Its much easier to deal with.

And for all you Eagles supporters out there, I might like you, you might even be my friend, but I can't stand your souless team.

Story

Cant seem to get your neighbours to talk about Jesus?

Being a backyard missionary not working for you?

Attracting people into the church with bells and whistles too much work?

I've got it, kidnap them and then pull out your gun and threaten to shoot them if they don't repent!!!!

Only in America....

A woman and two roommates are accused of holding her brother at gunpoint as she
prayed for his repentance, even firing a shot into the ceiling to keep his
attention. Randy Doss, 46, of Athens said he fled the house when his captors
got distracted and later went to police, who were skeptical at first because his
story was so bizarre. But police said it checked out, including the bullet hole
in the ceiling Story

As a Pastor conflict and people management is probably the key skill you need in developing and transitioning a church from traditional to purpose driven, outward focused and open/charismatic in worship style.

One or two lessons I have learnt, and am still on the journey of learning are these.

1. Be aware of conflict before it happens
2. You don't have to win the fight, getting what you want is far more important
3. Face and deal with conflict as it happens, not a week later, by then it has festered into something far larger and uglier
4. Be friends when you can with people, even if they disagree with you, they will find it hard to lynch you

This is good advice for those in the media....
but could just as well apply to those in Ministry, or in fact in any area of life.

) Return every call and e-mail quickly. Show up on time, even if you’re the only one there. Dress like you deserve your salary. Believe me, that will put you ahead of a surprising number of people.
2) Write thank-you notes. Remember birthdays. Remember the assistants, and the secretaries, the coordinators, and the mailroom folks. This is a people business. And people never forget how they are treated.
3) Every day, you are placing a brick in the tower of your reputation. Remember, everything you do, big and small, either adds or subtracts from your reputation.
4) Watch what you say in elevators, in restrooms, on airplanes and in casual conversation. She could be the client’s wife. He could be the boss’s brother. She could be your competitor’s accountant.
5) Don’t care who solves it. Just get it solved.
6) Learn how to tell a story: Every client presentation, every report, every commercial—it’s all about stories. Stories are how human beings make sense of the world. If you want to succeed in this business, be able to tell stories in ways that capture your audience’s attention.
7) When emotions are running high, make sure yours are running low. Life is unfair, so learn to lose with dignity. And, learn to win with dignity. That means no excuses. No crybabies. No bragging. No trashing. Learn how to move on.
8) Proofread. Spell-check.
9) Good enough, isn’t. There is going to be someone out there who will sleep less and work harder, will give up their weekend, and give it one more shot. That is the person that I bet on to win.
10) Think different. Be brave. The world is full of people with conventional ideas who go along with the crowd. It’s the mavericks and the dreamers who move things forward. When you hear an idea that makes you nervous, makes you sweat, occasionally gather your courage, take a stand, take a risk, suck it up and go out on a limb. Hey, you might even be right.


Source

Found

Okay here is some facts to back up my rant yesterday, for people like Speedy Geoff

ALAN DIDAK Coll
Games 22
Goals 41

compared to

Jeff Farmer

2006
Games 20
Goals 52

Alan Didak has never won a hard ball get in his life, Jeff has been ferocious this year. Even Phil Matera agrees, and came out publicly yesterday to support him.

Nick Reivoldt
Named in the pocket (Hello? is there anyone in the All Australian Selection team who has ever seen him play in the forward pocket?)
Games 23
Goals 60

Versus

Matthew Pavlich
Named on the bench (Hello? Is there anyone in the All Australian selection team who has seen Fremantle play this year??)
Games 23
Goals 63

Reivoldt is a fine player, no doubt, but if you want to compare how he kicks for goal, and marks, with how Pavlich marks, chases and is the most accurate kick in the league, Nick will come up short.
Pavlich has a lot of endurance, Nick is often seen giving up the chase.
Besides that Nick is a sooky sooky la la.

Pavlich on the bench? joke

Bell not included? Joke

Parker not in backline? Joke


and the biggie......


Jeff Farmer not in the forward pocket...... absolutley ludicrous.
He kicks 50+ goals and sets up countless others, he works his butt off...
ridiculous.

Instead they include the inconsistent Revoldt, who is not even a forward pocket player, and Didak

what a joke.

Lined up early this morning at "The Arena" Joondalup to get finals tickets for this Fridays game against the Melbourne Demons.

I have to say they are much better organised down there than at Midland.
They had a line marked out for people and so you just took up your spot and waited. If nature or the coffee machine called, no problem. With a three hour wait, this was pretty important!

Unlike last time, lining up for tickets to the Derby, there was no drama with the ticketing. The Weagles had a terrible time getting tickets to their final last week (boo hoo!!!) with most fans waiting about 8-10 hours before the machines finally came back online.

Anyways, Melinda and myself are off to Subi this Friday Night, should be a cracker of a game, and hopefully the Dockers will have found their confidence on the way back across the Nullaboar and send the Melbourne team back home with their tails between their legs.

Awesome day at Church yesterday.

The Kids had their Celebration Service.
They are using the Oasis material and it is very good. They prepared a contemporary dance and drama based around the "God's Mega Plan" theme.

The music was modern and fun, the kids did a very good job.

Afterwards we had a celebratory mud cake and a sausage sizzle. We sat around the tree round the front and it was really good.

It is so nice to be involved in a church which is so much fun for the kids, what a blessing.

Gareth is a great cook but unfortunately I wasn't that hungry as the Dockers served up some half baked footy today.
A scrappy game with dodgy decisions, by all the players and umpires.

In the end I think it was the home crowd and a stronger desire to win which got the Crows home.

Thank goodness the Weagles lost as well, otherwise Perth would be unbearable over the next week.

Organising a conference for about 160 Pastors and Leaders take it out of you.
So much details to think about and be on top of.
Huge thanks to Malcolm Rule and his offsider Bevan, who worked hard on all the multi -media stuff.

Phil Baker was really well received and spoke very well.
He called us to not be boring preachers, to engage people.
Apart from being a funny and great orator, he really challenged us.

Allan Myer spoke on Wednesday, and did not even touch what he had been asked to speak on (!) but it did not matter because he gave a challenging and different couple of sessions on spiritual disciplines, with a particular focus on fasting.

The food was great, the company and spirit in the place was excellent, helped in no small part by Colin Battersby and Emma from Whitfords Church.

All in all the 2Gether Conference went really well. We have hopefully broken even financially as well but managed to bless, revive, invigorate and encourage Pastors from all over WA.

1pm Perth time the mighty (wow, I can say that with no irony, no chance of being contradicted) play the out of form (Melbourne are crap) and injury ridden Crows in Adelaide.

Chris has asked that Freo fans come out to watch, pay for my ticket Chris, and I will be there.
If we are good enough to get to the GF, I will be in Melbourne, but, going to Adelaide is to much for a Pastor to afford.

Watching Freo last night demolish the Power and the week before destroying the top of the ladder Weagles, I have been reflecting on something.
This is not the team I am used to supporting. It can't be!!!
But whatever has happened, I dont want it to stop. Whoever is wearing their lucky jocks needs to keep wearing them, and I dont care how bad it gets, because watching Freo at the moment is as good as it gets!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blogging may be light in the next 3-4 days,
I am off to our annual 2Gether Pastors Conference, which I help organise.

If your the praying type, I would ask that you would pray that about 150 Pastors from all over WA have a refreshing and invigorating and special time together.

The Port Coach decided to have a red hot go at Fremantle in a bizarro press conference at the airport. Amongst other things he said that Josh Carr was the real captain of Freo, that Josh Carr was the reason Fremantle is doing so well, and is the reason the Dockers are a premiership fancied side.

Than commenting on a blog, which is an introspective excercise already, than commenting on the changes you have made to said blog?
Well, hopefully the changes Blogger Beta allows make this blog a little easier on the eyes.

Completing the final details for the 2006 2Gether Pastors Conference.

Myself and Malcom Rule from Encounter Church do a lot of the legwork to organise this conference, in consultation with the Baptist Pastors Association, Baptist Family of Churches, Churches of Christ Ministers Network and Churches of Christ Board.

This year we have Phil Baker, Tracey Johnston and Allan Meyers speaking. They are all dealing with issues of personhood, personal courage, dealing with people.

Phil will be sharing some of his own struggles and difficulties in transitioning Riverview.

One new thing I am really looking forward to is the new intiative, "ThinkTanks".

These are unstructured times where groups of people gather to discuss whatever issues are on their heart.

Karen Wilson will be leading one on "women in ministry", Andrew Hamilton will be leading one on the emerging church stuff and Malcolm will be leading one on using multi media in a small church context. Others will have freedom to lead one on whatever they want.
Should be fun!

courtesy of Dockerland.com

I said last week that Fremantle played the best I have ever seen them play.
This week they played very well, but perhaps the more interesting aspect of the game is how ordinary West Coast looked.

The Dockers are now installed as equal second favourites with the Adelaide Crows. That was unthinkable 7 weeks ago.

I had a great time, sat next to two friendly Eagles supporters, and apart from some argy bargy in the section next to mine, the crowd was good.

But hows the karaoke Eagle's song on the scoreboard?
And how is the innane SGIO Eagles chant?

The Eagles crowd was very quiet most of the day, but I suppose with that scoreline, its to be expected.

There was a big decision before Baptists of Western Australia, whether to appoint Pastor Mark Wilson of Whitfords Church of Christ as our Director of Ministries.

Last night at our Pastors dinner, which was attended to capacity, Karen shared how God had spoken to her about the decision, and it was truly prophetic. They are both leaving a great growing and significant church. They are both making a significant sacrifice, and I am really grateful.

I went to the special assembly called by the Baptist Family of Churches of WA this morning.
About 150 or so turned up to decide on whether to appoint Mark Wilson to the Director of Ministries positon. I don't normally go to Assemblies, but felt it was important to go to this one, and show my support.

Mark and his wife Karen are great people and I am so excited about his appointment. The vote was overwhelming, almost 100% and there was a genuine sense that God's Spirit was moving in the meeting.
Often the argy bargy of these meetings has put a lot of the younger pastors like myself off attending, but there has been changes happening in our Baptist culture for some time, with questions being asked respectfully, and the meeting bathed in prayer, including prayer clusters before the decision was made.

Our hope and prayer as Pastors coming through and leading churches is that Mark is able to lead us into a new era. One Pastor commented to me that for the first time he was truly excited to be a Baptist Pastor.

I have just got back the final proofs for our new church sign.
While spending some time reading and praying the other day God spoke to me about 'being a light to the world' and one of the things He pointed out was that our church sign was sending a really bad message to the community. Basically that we dont care about how our church looks, nor does anything look like it has changed for 30 years.

Now we are really tight financially at the moment, so how was I going to pay for it? Well I had some generous people tip in for it, and in a fortnight we will have it.
God speaks, God gives through His people. Its pretty humbling when it happens.

Look, I know its only a church sign, but I do think this is important, not as important as the relationships we have in the community, but relevant to being salt and light none the less.
For a church like ours, which has a real focus on being local and whose buildings are used constantly by the community, its important.

Spent a beautiful Monday morning wandering through Araluen. What a beautiful place. Took Clem out of school and he spent most of the morning discovering where all the water went. Not really interested in flowers and tulips, but quite interested in mud and waterways!

Many of you out there in the blog kingdom may not have heard of Matt Price. Matt used to work in Perth as a journalist, but now resides in Canberra.
He is a journalist for The Australian.

Matt is a passionate Fremantle supporter and author. He pens a semi regular column in "The Australian" all about Freo. The latest one is a gem, here is a piece from it,

"Nobody exactly knows why the Dockers are suddenly playing intoxicating,
glorious, physical, daring, intense, attacking, spirited, attractive,
intelligent, skilful, creative, inspiring, formidable, intimidating,
penetrating, compelling, astonishing, rousing football, but they are and it's
bloody wonderful.
Many Dockers fans were moved to tears by the spectacular
dismantling of Adelaide and, having strung together six-in-a-row, an absurdly
improbably top-four spot beckons. Only a fool would bet against West Coast,
Adelaide and Sydney raffling the flag, but, let's be frank, six weeks ago only a
clinically certified moron would have foreseen Fremantle's electrifying run. "

Whole Article

Seriously, the best, most committed TEAM footy I have ever seen the Dockers play.

St Kilda are no slouches, and have never been afraid of travelling West, but the Dockers made them look ordinary.
I am still a little shocked actually at the final result.

Macca and Cookie were sensational, Macca best on ground.
As to the GF, it is actually a distinct possibility, especially if we get a top four spot. Next weeks game against the weagles is vital.

I know I should just reveal in an awesome team performance, and I am.
But I want to make one little point, the St Kilda fans cannot blame the umpires tonight. In the last quarter I was staggered at the free kick count, and the free kicks Freo were not getting.

Just wanted to point out the the West Australian's 'Journalist" (used advisedly) Steve Butler is the West Australian's worst tipper. If you want to get good tips in your tipping comp, don't use Steve Butlers. (85 as compared to Reid, Reed and Townsend on 102)

Hardly suprising really, given that he often tips against Fremantle, despite the TAB and his fellow Tipsters predicting a Freo victory.
Reid, Reed and Townsend have all tipped Freo, while Butler has suprise suprise, tipped the Saints.
Anything you would like to tell us Steve?

Cameron Schwab has led the charge, and critiqued footy commentators who are ill-prepared and self indulgent. This is especially apparent in Fremantle Games with commentators regularly confusing players, and dragging out old cliches. For instance one commentator commented about Freo's appalling away record, when in fact Fremantle have the best away record of any team in the AFL at the moment!
One of the strongest reactions, amongst many, was Rex Hunt who spent 12 minutes on the radio defending himself, his preparation, his knowledge of the game.
Then he goes and writes this in regard to Fremantle,

"THEY are making me eat my words but I won't swallow them until the Dockers actually win a final. But I agree they are looking seriously good, which is full credit to Chris Connolly who has weathered the storm. Suddenly they are all flying, the Cape (Headland), The Primary Producer (Farmer), Dinger Bell, Happy Gilmore, the Vehicles (Carrs), Jimmy Walker and Fess Parker. As for the Saints, they did what they had to do last week against insipid opposition. They'll have a crack but without Lenny Hayes and with an injured Luke Ball will struggle at the business end"

(Link)

Only problem is Rex, James Walker has not played for months. YOU GOOSE!!
Bad preparation, ill informed comment.
You would think if it was your job to be a footy commentator and writer, you would watch the games and be aware of the team you are making comment on.

Schwab 1, Hunt 0

I'm not one to rail against the evils of the world, the world can explain itself.....

But what is it with all these crime shows on at the moment?
What is it with our insatiable appetite for 'entertainment' about people killing each other?
What is it with our facination with delving into forensic science?
Is it that by explaining it somehow we have control over it? We dont have control over what people do to each other, not even God Himself controls that. (He could, but we chose free choice, remember?)

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching NCIS. But that has more to do with the relationships and characters on the show, and crime is interesting, up to a point.

Its just the quantity of these type of shows, every channel is showing at least two of them, and the lengths they are going to to seemingly outdo each other in the shocking crimes they portray.
Is it only me that is thinking about this sort of stuff, or have others noticed it as well?

The hows and whys of the Willow Creek Leadership DVD Summit have already been dissected all over Blogdom, but here is a post from a guy who actually was there (over east) and heard what Bono said.
(Source of link Phil Baker)

Tony Morgan


"The interview then shifted to Bono's music. He said, "I want my music to do something positive, but I want to be honest and own up to my earthly confusions.""

Went to check my wallet yesterday and it felt light. Now my wallet never feels heavy from cash, I am a Pastor after all!
But friends often stir me up because they think I am a little like George Constanza in that my wallet is normally stuffed full of receipts, notes, cards etc etc.
However yesterday it felt light!
I checked it, rechecked, noooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

You are the light of the world--like a city on a mountain, glowing in the
night for all to see. Don't hide your light under a basket! Instead, put it on
a stand and let it shine for all. (Matthew 5.14, 15)

Jesus is talking here to a ragtag bunch of Israelis on a rural setting somewhere, on a grassy hill.
No one really important or influential is there. Just ordinary people, captivated by what Jesus is saying.
How on earth are these folk going to 'be a light to The World?"

Well there is nothing on earth, much, that is going to help them.
At Bedford we have some great programs in place, really effective, in the sense a bunch of people from the community come and appreciate them.
But we are struggling, although we have had some effectiveness, with seeing how on earth we are going to lead these people to a fulfilling, joyful life found in Jesus.
Well the truth is we aint going to be able to do this, no more than we didn't do much at all to get them along in the first place, that was God.

Moving them along, helping them on their spiritual journey, well that's going to have to be God as well, because quite frankly I dont know how, I dont have the answers. I certainly dont have the strength or power.
But as I spent some time with some mates praying this morning, gee it felt powerful, gee it felt strong. The X Factor was amongst us, the unexplainable power that comes from God.
We will see some people come to know a 'good' life, a great joyful life. Because we have asked God to help us.

Oh someone up there is looking after me.

I rock up at Midland shops at about 7.30am to get my derby tickets.
Now Midland shops is undergoing a huge redevelopment, and I am waiting outside at the wrong glass doors. What I mean is that the entry I am going to go through when the security guard opens the door is miles from the Wesley Music store aka Tickemaster booth.

Thankfully for me the security guard opens my door, I spend about five minutes wandering through the store until I find Ticketmaster.
As I wait outside I am struck by the fact that there is normally about 50 people already waiting there.

Then I glance to my right and see about 100 people waiting outside, right near the store, for the security guard to let them in!
They come rushing in about five minutes later and demand to know how I got in, and I tell them. The lady who was there first has been waiting since 3am!!!
Unfortunately for her, she is an Eagles fan, and does not realise that Eagles fans cannot buy tickets today, members already have theirs, and only Dockers fans can buy them.
She trudges off very upset.
The next lady is a mad keen Dockers supporter, and has been waiting since 5am!!
I stroll in, and she has been waiting for ages!!!
Worse is to come.
The Ticketmaster computer is playing up, and they take until about 9.13 to get my tickets, two tickets at opposite ends of the ground.
The poor lady behind me gets restricted viewing tickets.
Only three more people get theirs, the rest miss out!
All Derby Tickets gone by 9.15am.

What a win!
Hard, pressured, mature footy from a team who obviously had not read the script.
Ladder leader, at home, McLeod back in, 50 000 rabid Croweaters cheering on, dubious home town umpiring..........

Farmer, what defensive pressure. Who has taught him to play the team game? Yes, he kicked a lazy 70 when he played for Melbourne, but he mostly cared about himself back then. Now he cares about the team.....

Matthew Carr........ did team playmaker Simon Goodwin play?? Because I didn't see him under the BLANKET that Josh's brother was carrying around.

Great to see J LO back out there as well.

Despite there often being 3, yes 3, defenders hanging off Pavlich, he still managed to cause plenty of headaches for the Crows, even when he went into the midfield.

My prediction for next week? Well, myriad is going to be a very sad sad place to be on Sunday night. Maybe Saint Gaz could do a series on Jeremiah, the weeping prophet... :)

p.s. this late news in from the Herald Sun
"Centrebet now has Fremantle at $15 for the flag and spokesman Gerard Daffy noted there is a chance it could get two home finals if results fall its way.
"We expect them to win their last three games and that includes beating the Eagles at Subiaco," Daffy said.
"That would mean they are every chance to finish either third or fourth, meaning they could easily meet the Eagles at Subiaco (in the first week of the finals), which is obviously their home ground.
"They've already beaten the Eagles this year and if they beat them in their first final then they would go straight to a preliminary home final. Suddenly it is looking very good for a team that most had written off just over a month ago.
"They have been backed solidly all season and are a loser for us and were a loser on the weekend.
"One punter had $4000 on them at $2.50 at quarter-time (yesterday) and another had $10,000 at $1.55 at halftime. They were actually back out to $2.50 at three-quarter time when Adelaide came back.
"They were a loser for us in the game, being backed from $3.65 into $2.90."

Not always an easy job, not often an easy job.
Dealing with people, sad ones, depressed ones, frustrated ones, impatient ones.

When it comes to matters of spirituality, everyone has an opinion, some strong ones as well.
We cant all be right.

I wonder sometimes about the balance between spiritualising matters and being pragmatic.
How more churches don't split apart is beyond me.

"Give me wisdom, strength and vision God. Help me to lead well. "

In the old days the word 'awesome' was used much differently to how it is now.
In the old sense it was used to mean "to hold something as serious, as of significance". It was a serious word, a word meant to invoke feelings of reverence.
As I think about trying to lead people in spiritual matters, I wonder, what the heck am I doing? This is an 'awesome' responsibility, even if it is only a small church.
I also wonder about those great spiritual leaders of our day. I dont think half of them know what they are doing, if any of them .
We are all so fragile, our feet are made of clay.

As I looked around our childrens program today, and the room was absolutely packed, I wondered, what the heck are we doing? This semester we started the third day of the program, and it is now bursting at the seams, with families in need of the live and joy Jesus offers.
What an 'awesome' responsibility.
I dont want to take it lightly, but neither do I want to think there is really much wisdom in me to make it all work.

Here's a great article from one of the board members of the FFC.

article

This line in particular took my fancy,
"Others are not so observant. During the mid-season break ABC Radio had an "in-depth" look at each club. You may remember that Fremantle took the break after its worst performance since 2001 - thrashed at home by Geelong. Former Carlton captain Mark Maclure, now a special comments man on the ABC, had the solution. Fremantle had to act immediately he said - not at the end of the season - but right away. It was time to get rid of Peter Bell, Jeff Farmer and Paul Medhurst. By the way Peter Bell didn't play in the Geelong game. Maclure's argument was that Bell is no longer the player he was at North Melbourne and that Farmer and Medhurst were (like ever other small forward in the history of the game) too inconsistent. You can bet he's pleased that Medhurst in currently playing in the WAFL but you can be equally sure he's saying "I told ya so" all that often when discussion turns to Fremantle. As has been mentioned before on this page lots of people talk about footy on the wireless and the TV - the important thing is that while we may tune in we're not obligated to really listen. "

"If God is silent, what's that to you? If he turns his face away, what can you do about it? But whether silent or hidden, he's there, ruling," - Job 34:29 (MSG)

Speaking from the book of Job this week, wow, what a book.
The oldest book in the bible confronts the most modern of questions,
"Where is God when life sucks?"

"You can measure the size of a man

by the size of the thing

he gets angry at"

Freo heave ho!!!
We are a silly chance to beat the Crows this week, especially with this news, just in....
"Mark Ricciuto, Adelaide, has accepted a one-game sanction for striking James Clement, Collingwood, during the first quarter of the Round 18 match between Adelaide and Collingwood, played at AAMI Stadium on Saturday August 5, 2005."

Footy Goss

Australind Baptist Church has nowhere to meet this week after the Tornado which ripped through Australind on Monday destroyed the Settler Community Hall.
Pastor Wayne Field said that, "A mini tornado hit Australind this morning. Fortunately no families from Australind Baptist Church have suffered any damage to their homes, though other residents in Settler's estate did not escape unscathed. A number of homes have been destroyed and trees flattened in a stretch about 200m wide and 2km long".
There have been no injuries reported from the tornado, which was forecast by the Bureau of Meterology.
Australind Baptist Church was fortunate in that most of the church gear was locked away in cupboards that kept the weather out, and so it has been preserved.
Their popular community program, Toddler Jam, will also have to find another place to meet, which is unfortunate as it popular with many of the local families.

Settler's Hall will most likely be demolished as the force of the tornado has lifted the roof, blown out windows and buckled walls. Pastor Wayne Field has commented that this is an opportunity for the growing church, which was finding the local hall constrictive to their congregation.

In a move bound to make environmental experts all round the world nervous, Michael Bullard has finally rid himself of his old laptop including the laptop power supply.
I received this post from Michael, "BTS - the power supply of the laptop is now gone - 10 kg off my desk.The new one is much smaller, though not as small as many. "

One wonders how Michael managed to get the laptop battery off his desk, which surely must have had steel reinforcement under it. Did Barry let him bring a forklift into the office?

And what is the Stirling Council going to say about Michael dumping the laptop battery at the local tip? How is he going to sneak it past the guard?

Great game against a determined Hawks side today.
Good mature consistent footy.
Cook was excellent, tough in the packs, and set up about 3 of our goals.
Farmer has taken his game to another level with intense tackling, determined and focused playing. He is playing better footy now that he did at Melbourne.
Bell lead from the front, good to see Justin L back and firing, and Sandi was particularly agressive today, which he needs to be to get the best out of his game.
Amazing ladder at the moment with 6 of the 8 sides being equal on points.
If it were not for our lousy percentage we could be 3rd on the ladder!

I know logic says otherwise, but I think we are a silly chance against ladder leaders Adelaide next week, and then onto the INCONSISTENT Saints.

Then of course the Derby.
Now here are the blog rules for commenting on the Derby.
Watching the occaisional last five minutes of a West Coast game DOES not make you a supporter of the Toasters, it makes you a bandwagon hopping, chardonny sipping, kneedle knitting ignoramus, like many West Australians. :)

I have been a member of the Dockers for years know, go to every game, watch every game, have 7 Dockers shirts in the wardrobe. I have suffered for many years, I am a supporter.
If you are a West Coast 'supporter' because that is an easier choice than being a real member or supporter, then...................

On the other hand, if you suffered through 2000 and 2001, during the Judge years, and are a real supporter, let the sledging begin :) :)

Once again, you cant trust St Kilda.
With everything to play for, inconsistent footy again.

Although I could not bring myself to cheer for the Weagles, part of me was glad they won.
That brief hope of a top four finish is kept alive.

I have been trying to source a good communion video for this Sunday, but was unable to get what I wanted.
So I have grabbed a copy of Ulead and made my own.
It is suprisingly easy, if time consuming.
I have used one of the new songs off Hillsongs new album, combined it with some Bible texts and thoughts, and some videos of crucifixion scenes and also a budding flower.
It has turned out well.
Is video the new bible reading? I think it might be. Rather than only standing and reading the bible, which can be really effective if done well, this is another way to bring to people's minds the truth of the text.

Hopefully my skills will not detract from the message, but enhance. We'll see.

Its a real shame some Aussie Churches (big ones) dont give away some of the stuff they are doing. American stuff is often done well, and I use it, but sometimes it loses something with the cultural differences, and even hearing someone using a non Aussie accent can be distracting as well. A lot of the Aussie stuff I have seen has been done by uni students, and is not really very mature (!).

Despite the protestations of some this Sunday's game against the Hawthorn Hawks should be a walk in the park for the fired up Freo boys.
I would venture to say we are the form team in the competition at the moment, having won our last four games, at least two of which was against top four sides.

Spida Everitt is out, Longmuir is in to help the awesome Sandilands, and so our tough in and under brigade should make short work of the clearances.
With Murphy Pav and Farmer up forward, against the injured Croad, and the fantastic 'no name' back line I am pretty confident we will smash them.

(Which as a long suffering Freo fan has me a little worried :) )

ps I am little torn, I dont know who to go for in the Weagles v Saints. My dislike for all things blue and gold is well known, but part of me is still hoping for a top four finish, which wont be helped if St Kilda keeps up its inconsistency and wins this week.

We had a great meeting last night discussing the children's ministries in our church.
What a great great great bunch of leaders we have. They are all motivated, skilled and creative. In fact I would say they are passionate about seeing kids come to know Jesus and grow into socially creative and adjusted young adults.

Its truly a blessing to hear all the things going on in our Kids ministries programs. A Church consulatant shared with us that the most important aspect of growing a church, is having relevants children's programs, and I think he is right. Our guys are doing a great job!

Despite his technological ineptitude, Michael can string some great words together.
A timely post over at the Choco's blog caught my eye.
Well written Michael.

"Can I suggest the following “questions” to be used as a filter for the expression of our opinions towards and concerning one another (whether on a blog, from a pulpit, or just in casual conversation).
Will this communication build up the body of Christ?
Will this communication maintain the unity of the body of Christ?
Have I communicated to the person(s) or group(s) concerned and expressed my critique to them and given them opportunity to respond and correct or change their perspective before I communicate mine?
Have I judged the motives of the people / groups I am writing or speaking about?
Do I have the best interests of the other person or group in mind?
Am I speaking out of revenge / wounded pride / bitterness etc?
Am I free to not communicate? "

Rest of post at Choco'c blog

Email, once the bastion of youth, is now being confined to work and old people.
Young folk are much more likely to be quickly developing arthritis from SMSing or more likely using msn.

(Story)

I have recently started (I know I know, its been around for ages) using MSN.
Now all I have to do is get Michael Bullard to start using it and I will save him about $10 a week in stamps, yes stamps. Michael has been training up some pidgeons for a rainy day, just in case. His back is not getting any younger either, and carrying that laptop battery around is causing him to stoop.

After a fairly scratchy start Freo did enough in the 3rd quarter today to win the game against Carlton.
A dissapointing fourth quarter meant we did not get the percentage boosting win we wanted, but we won by 18 points.

Ryan Murphy was excellent with an accurate 5 goals.
Pav did enough, Farmer was hard working and Johnson was excellent, as was Sandilands.
Mundy was exceptional as well.

Thanks to the Roo's for knocking off Geelong and giving us a two game buffer in the eight.
If we get over the hapless Hawks, we should have done enough to make the finals this year.

Where to for Paul Medhurst? He could have been anything, but I cant see him getting another game this year.

With the weagles winning and the Bombers recording their second win of the season, who would be a bookie? Both entered their games as distinct underdogs, and both recorded emphatic wins.
As much as I would have preferred to pick up the Sunday Times and read the headline, "Shaky Eagles go down to Premiership Favourites Adelaide", at least it shows why the AFL is so enjoyed by so many people. It is a truly unpredictable game. Even the shape of the ball and oval is not 'regular'.

Three part series I am doing in August.....

From Rick Warren's mail out,

"If you're in a job with a bunch of bad people who curse and swear and tell coarse jokes, I don't feel a bit sorry for you. They're probably why you're there."

Neale Danniher, coach of the defeated Melbourne Demons, has come out and said that the home town crowd at the Freo Melbourne game was a major reason why Freo beat Melbourne.

Certainly crowd reports from the game indicate that this was the loudest crowd we have had all year. It was a record crowd for a game between Freo and Melbourne.
Maybe it was also the fact that Freo played really tight hard footy for four quarters. Maybe that is why the crowd was so appreciative.

Either way Neales comments indicate that having 36, 000 people cheering for you if far better for you as a team than having 36, 000 people not really appreciating you (!)

This should be great fun!

Prompted by the latest "50 most influential churches" I have come up with my own list.

The 50 most list was composed by Americans, and with obviously blinkered view, all 50 are American.

My top five in the world.
1. Hillsong Church Australia (Houston) More than any other church in the world, this church has got churches co operating as the walls have come down. Most if not all evangelical churches in the world use their worship. Yes I am bias, but I think I could mount a good argument for it none the less.
2. Willow Creek (Hybels) Started off a revolution
3. Saddleback (Warren) Caused us to rethink our mission
4. Yoido Full Gospel Church, Seoul, Korea (Yonggi Cho) (253.000 people)
5. Holy Trinity Brompton Anglican Church (Nicky Gumbel) All around the world, many churches use the ALPHA course of evangelism Holy Trinity Brompton


Now here is the top churches/people that have influenced me personally

1. Albany Church of Christ Mark Randall was a passionate speaker and inspired me to be a Pastor in my formative Christian years.
2. Saddleback Rick Warren inspires me with his integrity and purpose
3. Jack Deere God is not contained in the theological constraints I placed him in
4. Hillsong Lets be relevant and passionate okay?
5. Paul Borden Ministry is too important to get caught up in politics

The Weagles cant do anything right. I wanted them to win this week, for Freo's sake, and get Colliwobbles down to our amount of points.

But JW was outcoached by a fired up Malthouse.
Freo made Collingwood look ordinary last week, the weagles had no answers for the match ups this week.

Who is meant to kick goals for the Weagles?

Speaking about being the "Salt of the Earth" on Sunday.

Pretty challenging stuff, especially when Jesus says that salt that has lost its saltiness gets chucked away and trampled on.

This song from U2 is one that is good, I am using it to kick off the service.
Look at the last line, great thought. Do we understand with all the crap going on in the world, that the church is actually responsible? If we are called to be salt and light, we are not doing a good job.


The more you see the less you know The less you find out as you go I knew much more then than I do nowNeon heart day-glow eyes A city lit by fireflies They're advertising in the skiesFor people like us And I miss you when you're not around I'm getting ready to leave the ground Oh you look so beautiful tonight In the city of blinding lights Don't look before you laugh Look ugly in a photographFlash bulbs purple irises The camera can't seeI've seen you walk unafraid I've seen you in the clothes you made Can you see the beauty inside of me? What happened to the beauty I had inside of me?(cut) And I miss you when you're not around I'm getting ready to leave the ground Oh you look so beautiful tonight In the city of blinding lights Time...time...time...time...time Won't leave me as I am But time won't take the boy out of this manOh you look so beautiful tonight Oh you look so beautiful tonight Oh you look so beautiful tonight In the city of blinding lights
The more you know the less you feel
Some pray for others steal
Blessings are not just for the ones who kneel... luckily

Well the well known preacher was the recently departed
IOANNES PAULUS II.


Interesting that what he was saying was scriptural, spot on, challenging etc.
I dont know if there is a point to any of this, I just found it interesting.


Link

You are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the world" (Mt 5:13-14): The images of salt and light used by Jesus are rich in meaning and complement each other. In ancient times, salt and light were seen as essential elements of life.
"You are the salt of the earth...". One of the main functions of salt is to season food, to give it taste and flavour. This image reminds us that, through Baptism, our whole being has been profoundly changed, because it has been "seasoned" with the new life which comes from Christ (cf. Rom 6:4). The salt which keeps our Christian identity intact even in a very secularized world is the grace of Baptism. Through Baptism we are re-born. We begin to live in Christ and become capable of responding to his call to "offer [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God" (Rom 12:1). Writing to the Christians of Rome, Saint Paul urges them to show clearly that their way of living and thinking was different from that of their contemporaries: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect" (Rom 12:2).
For a long time, salt was also used to preserve food. As the salt of the earth, you are called to preserve the faith which you have received and to pass it on intact to others. Your generation is being challenged in a special way to keep safe the deposit of faith (cf. 2 Th 2:15; 1 Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 1:14).
Discover your Christian roots, learn about the Church’s history, deepen your knowledge of the spiritual heritage which has been passed on to you, follow in the footsteps of the witnesses and teachers who have gone before you! Only by staying faithful to God’s commandments, to the Covenant which Christ sealed with his blood poured out on the Cross, will you be the apostles and witnesses of the new millennium.
It is the nature of human beings, and especially youth, to seek the Absolute, the meaning and fullness of life. Dear young people, do not be content with anything less than the highest ideals! Do not let yourselves be dispirited by those who are disillusioned with life and have grown deaf to the deepest and most authentic desires of their heart. You are right to be disappointed with hollow entertainment and passing fads, and with aiming at too little in life. If you have an ardent desire for the Lord you will steer clear of the mediocrity and conformism so widespread in our society.


Which well known preacher said this? I'll give you one clue, he is dead, recently.

My good friend has just given me an O2 XDA II Device.

Now I have actually thrown away my diary, literally, it is in the bin. And my wife has been given my mobile phone, and I still have my well worn NLT Bible, and so the title of this post was meant to shock, more than be accurate (I should work for the West).

But what a brilliant device this is. It has a great system, good memory with an exapandable slot, good media player (listening to Delirious at the moment) and I have also downloaded E Sword to it (Bible Program).

I used to think people with these devices were just propeller heads, maybe they still are, but it really is useful.

(PS Michael Bullard, you really should get one, it will save you lugging that desktop computer around and pretending to everyone it is a laptop. The battery alone needs its own trailer)

Here is an interesting article in the SMH

Rick spoke about this article when at Hillsong.
Interesting, but not much more information than we already know.
Obviously the money issue is the one the press are most interested in, not the lives being helped.
(Thanks to Bagga for the Link)

The story in the West and splashed all over the TV News last night was all about the plight of West Coast Ruckman Michael Gardiner.
The West's story this morning detailed his on and off field drama's over the last few years.

Michael set out last night to grab some late night takeaway in his V8 Commodore. Only problem was Michael had been consuming Vodka, was drunk and smashed his car and two others.

This is a sad story for many reasons.

Michael is a very talented player. Many Aussie blokes would love to have his talent.
Michael has thrown it away because of one foolish choice after another.
It has come to light that this was his chance. He had six weeks during Cox's abscence to prove himself, and with Cox out, and West Coast's excellent midfield, he could have done it.

Instead he has made another foolish decision. What is perhaps more worrying is his lack of responsibility about it. He claimed he was not drinking, and had not done much wrong.
Unfortunately the blood alcohol limit was well over .08 and his own teamates and coach expressed their view that he had let the side down badly, which he has.

There is a distinct possibility Michael will not be covered by insurance if found guilty of driving under the influence. This will cost him a considerable amount of money, in fixing his own car, and two others, as well as court fines.

I feel sad for the young man, who at 26, had the world at his feet. With one bad decision he has hurt himself and set a bad example for others.

Lets hope he can turn it around. With just a few good decisions that is possible.
Get stuck into his footy at Claremont, pay his bills, face up to his responsibilties. With all the terrible stories of young Aussie males harming themselves intentionally, lets hope Michael seeks help.

Just a brief thought I wanted to write down and think about.

We have all heard the cliche, if one door shuts, dont worry, another will open.

I dont think thats true.
Maybe God wants us to smash down the closed door. Maybe the door is put there by someone who does not have our or God's best interests at heart.
Maybe we give up too quickly and too easily, citing God's will, when in fact its us being lazy or wanting things to be easy.

"Let go and Let God" , what a crock. Life is hard and tough sometimes. We dont get what we want, or even what we think God wants for our lives. Sometimes we get the exact opposite of what we think God would want for us, and it does not seem fair.

I dont see Jesus stopping when the going got tough. I see him going and being flogged to death for what He believed in. No easy road for that Warrior. If that was one door shutting, Jesus allowed it to slam shut in His face.
There was no easy door opened for Him to go through, and I wonder if there are many easy doors opened for us.

Malthouse was comprehensively outcoached today by the positive Chris Connolly.
One interesting tactic which the team employed in the last quarter was long torpedo kicks into the 50. It has come out after the game that this was a tactic Chris instigated amongst the players, and it worked a treat. It kept the Pies defenders on their toes, and with Jeff Farmer running amok in the forward 50, we won a good quality game.

Special Mentions to Bell, 38 Possessions, Josh Carr, brilliant, tough and in it when it counted.
Drum played well for a young player, kicking a valuable goal, and his first in AFL.
Sandilands won it in the middle for us consistently, and it showed in the clearances.

Pavlich did not have his best game, and the defender on him played out of his skin, but Pav still managed to kick some goals.
Mc Pharlin played in defense and played well on Rocca.

Des Hedland got a rev up at half time and it showed with a BOG third quarter.
Shaun, my favourite player, also played well, without needing to dominate.
Go Freo!!
Next week against the Melbourne Demons will be a tough tough test, even at Subi. But the Demons do not fear Subi. But don't write us off, if we play like we did today, we are in with a chance.

Just one note on the umpires.
They played some very soft frees to both sides, and while they were consistent in their softness, it does not help the players, who were getting very frustrated from both sides.

Great game between the Saints and Dons.
Dissapointing from a Freo POV that Essendon could not win. But thats life.

Mc Phee does not look at his best either. That's what happens when a average player has to play as a key play maker.

Robert Harvey is a trooper. Defintely amongst the best players on the field today.
But overall St Kilda's effort, with such a talented side, was pretty dissapointing, they dont really have anything to be proud of, winning in the dying minutes of the game, having been behind most of the day to a team who have been terrible most of the year.
Essendon have never had such a bad season in my memory. Wonder who they are going to beat this season, maybe the Blues? How the mighty coaches of the AFL have fallen.

I am speaking from Jeremiah 33 tommorow.

6"Nevertheless, the time will come when I will heal Jerusalem's damage and give her prosperity and peace. 7I will restore the fortunes of Judah and Israel and rebuild their cities. 8I will cleanse away their sins against me, and I will forgive all their sins of rebellion. 9Then this city will bring me joy, glory, and honor before all the nations of the earth! The people of the world will see the good I do for my people and will tremble with awe!
10"This is what the LORD says: You say, `This land has been ravaged, and the people and animals have all disappeared.' Yet in the empty streets of Jerusalem and Judah's other towns, there will be heard once more 11the sounds of joy and laughter. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will be heard again, along with the joyous songs of people bringing thanksgiving offerings to the LORD. They will sing,

In this passage the people of Israel, Gods only children find themselves in exile, being attacked, facing an uncertain future. Where is God in all of this?
Where is God when we suffer?

At the Hillsong Conference Delirious sung this song, listing some of the awful things we face, yet we are still able to cry out, in faith, Our God Reigns. Its a beautiful paradox.

40 million babies lost to Gods great orphanage,It’s a modern day genocide and a modern day disgraceIf this is a human right then why aren’t we free?The only freedom we have is in a man nailed to a tree.100 million faces, staring at the sky,Wondering if this HIV will ever pass us by.The devil stole the rain and hope trickles down the plug,But still my Chinese take away could pay for someone’s drugs.

Our God reigns, Our God reigns, Forever your kingdom reigns.

The west has found a gun and it’s loaded with ‘unsure’Nip and tuck if you have the bucks in a race to find a cure.Psalm one hundred and thirty nine is the conscience to our selfish crime,God didn’t screw up when he made you,He’s a father who loves to parade you.

Yes he reigns, yes you reign, yes you reign, For there is only one true God,

But we’ve lost the reins on this world,Forgive us all, forgive us please,As we fight for this broken world on our knees.

Written by Delirious? ©2005 Curious? Music UK

Here is the link includes some info and pictures of his time at Hillsong.
I took this photo from my 'cheap seat' on the side of the stage. Rick was dressed very casually, no ritz, no white suit, just the simple bu powerful word of God, spoken by a man who is as far as I can discern, a humble speaker and gifted by God.

http://www.rickwarren.com/

Been down south, Margaret River, Augusta, Cowarump (!)

Beautiful places, even during the colder months.
Melinda had organised a log cabin, right in the bush, which Clem and Ruby loved. Roasted marshmallows, red wine, slow roasted beef, long walks in the bush, lazy drives to the Margaret River Chocolate factory, games with the kids, expeditions down the Lake Cave in Augusta.

West Australia is a beautiful place, but back to work today.

Stuck in Sydney on a Friday night?
Want to watch the AFL Friday Night footy?
Good luck.

Guess what time the game is on? 5am Saturday Morning. Unbelievable.
Stupid channel nine. If they dont want to show the game at a reasonable time, let Foxtel take it. That way I could go down to the local pub, find a small tv away from the big screen NRL playing, and watch by beloved Dockers.
Listening to Wally (in name and nature) calling the game is just not the same.

Heading home tommorow after picking up some more presents for my beautiful wife and children. Having a understanding wife, who is willing to let me go for the week, and is such a competant mum really helps.

Reinhold Bonke 9.30am "How we make God visible"
Bonke spoke using various bible passages (Is 6, Mark 16, Exodus 14) on how God is made visible, despite being invisible. Obviously it is because we are to make Him visible. Bonke encouraged us to be like the disciple Peter who had to call out to Jesus, and then get out of the boat to walk on water.

Peter challenged Jesus, "can I come?"
The focus of the miracle was on the faith of Peter (despite his subsequent doubt)
In other words we are to understand that we have a responsibility to show Jesus and His power, it is through us He chooses to work.

Franklin Jentzen ""The seventh sneeze"
Have a guess where this sermon title comes from? Seriously, where in the Bible does it mention someone sneezing seven times?

Look up 2 Kings 4.32
This was the best sermons I have heard Franklin preach. Wonderful, insightful message on handling pressure and the contrast between the flesh and the spirit. He talked about how the sneeze is an involuntary expulsion of something unwanted. The boy came alive after sneezing seven times.

Franklin then went into the New Testament and then proceeded to give a wonderful overview of the difficulties, the hindrances, the early church faced. It was so interesting. Normally we hear how victorious and overcoming the early church was, but Franklin showed us how in fact there were 7 (at least) times the church was hindered.
Here are only some of the key ones....
Acts 5 Greed
Acts 6 "There arose a murmuring"
Acts 8 Fear
Acts 10 Racial predjuice

Franklin is such a passionate preacher, try to resist getting swept up into his message if you can! I could not. This was a moving and challenging message.

Bayliss Connor
Houston had his customary sore throat. (I have been coming for 6 years now, and he always gets a sore throat). Bobbie was not his fill in preacher (as she often is) but he called upon Baylis to preach.
He spoke on 2 Corinthians 6, Ps 119 and Is 54
His basic message was covered by Bruce Wilkinson in the prayer of Jabez, which Bayliss referenced and mentioned.
He called us to have a willingness to deal with manure (!), which provided perhaps a more balanced view than Wilkinson gave us.
It was a really encouraging message because he talked about the incredible difficulties his church has had in its relocation process. The council took them to court and they had incredible legal bills which were necesary because of some legal issue where the council try to take the property and do not need to give any compensation. The process of relocation was explained and was a four year process. With some churches only telling part of the story, it was great to hear the difficulties faced by this church.

One another incidental quote he gave was a beauty.
"God had a family before He had a church"
Yes, and important to remember what is most important.

Home and back to reality tommorow. Really refreshed and looking forward to preaching some of this stuff.

Franklin then

I started off today with a Gloria Jeans coffee. Its not the best coffee in the world, and not my favourite, but there is one right near our motel and grabbing one for the train ride to Accer Stadium is great on these cold Sydney mornings. With not much sleep happening, its also probably necessary.

Bill Hybels
Here is the 'big idea from Bill.
"What cant you stand? What brings tears to your eyes, what rises up a holy discontent within your spirit" This may be the area you should minister in. '
Another excellent and convicting message from a man who God has been seriously dealing with in the last few years.

Frank Damazio
Frank is perhaps a lesser known speaker to some of the others, but has a comprehensive book out on leadership. He is certainly on the more charismatic side of the church, which is fine by me, and challenged us to embrace the more spiritual side of leadership.
He said that spiritual leadership requires spiritual transformation.
Every idea needs anointing, needs spiritual empowerment.
Frank spent some time towards the end in 'ministry' by which he means praying for Pastors. It was a great time.
In his second session he said sometimes trials remind us of how there are times we cannot do anything but increase our faith and hope in God. Sometimes the trial is severe and we need to make a choice, to be bitter, or to grow in faith.
Frank also gave a stack of indicators of únbroken'leaders, 14 in fact.
One of the main indicators of an unknown leader is that they, "use manipulation to further their own agenda".

Reinholt Bonke spoke in the evening session and was his typical energetic, passionate and clear self. He used the parable of the talents to challenge us to be faithful over the little.
Another interesting aside, when asked by a TV reporter what he thought of women in ministry he replied, ïf I was drowing, I would not care if I was saved from death by a man or a woman"

Tiring yet inspiring day today.
I have spent a lot of time tonight in prayer and intercession for some men connected with our church. I pray God will continue to challenge me and refine me.
This has been a wonderful time of impartation, refreshment and renewal for me.
One more day to go!