The Freo boys that is......
Probably the most dissapointing season ever....more than any other because there was real exectation we would do well....
With all the hype pre-season this should have been our best year. Everything was set for our club to continue on and do better than 2006. With star recruits and other players maturing, everything was in place, but it was not to be. Injuries, misdemenours, and unrest in the ranks, derailed our season.

But....there is a lot to look forward to in 2008. A new coach, who appears to have the players respect, and will impose his will on them. The best centre half forward in the AFL
The best crumbing forward.
One of the most creative and attacking defenses
Exciting ruckman.
Roll on 2008, it will be our best year ever.
focused captain, hopefully Bell plays on.....

And some other things to look forward too,
St Kilda continuing their slide down the ladder........into obscurity......
West Coast players disgracing themselves....
Richmond moving up to their default position in 9th

After Freo gets flogged by Port........
Its go Geelong, and after that....anyone but the high flying....in more ways than one.....weages. I'll even barrack for the Pies or Port over that bunch of big sunglass wearing, smug, oily dorks. And if one more person tells me to support the WA side, I will not be responsible for my actions.

Is it good to grow up being a pastors son?
I don't know, having grown up an engineers' son.
I worry about my boy, he is such a great kid. But then I am also glad for some reasons too.
I worry because being a pastors son is not like being a fireman's son, or even a businessman's son. At some point it will be embarassing for him being my son....maybe it is now.

But then I am glad too. What other dad gets to pick their son up from school and take him out to kick the footy? Some do, in fact there are about two or three dads when I pick him up. Yet being a pastor is a lot more flexible that other professions.

But then I am out a lot at night, sometimes 4-5 nights a week. Normally he is in bed at 7.15pm, so it does not affect him too much, yet.

Sometimes when I am feeling irrationaly depressed about it I remind myself that it is better to be a pastors son that a drug addicts son !!!

Most of all I want him to grow up in a church that he loves, that is indispensible to the community, that is exciting, contemporary and relevant....that probably drives me as much as anything.

Googling your own name is something we have all done, but none of us would admit it.
There are stacks of Mark Edwards's in the world, from rock stars to geologists.
There are a number of Mark Edwards's who are Pastors. One of them leads a church in Queensland, he also posts on Phil Baker's blog.....For those who have asked, it is not me....I have not had a coffee made from cat poo beans......

I have three blogs....thats enough.
(And yes, I know that is probably not how you spell the plural for Mark Edwards...but you get the idea)

Here's that message on Noah I promised you.....

Here is an interesting fact...sort of...and not for the squemish.

1 Corinthians 6: 18 Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts. 20 Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him.

Why did Paul write this? Well at Corinth there were 'athletic games'. These were played in the nude by the athletes. Some of the Jewish and other competitors were embrassed by the fact their 'old fella' was circumcised. So... they were actually having a pseudo reverse type operation to make it look like everyone elses....true...

The English, cynical, yet often able to see right through rubbish. If cynicism is taken too far, it leads to bitternerr, or closed minds.
Many pastors have put out rubbish, said a lot of stupid things...and the rest of us pay for it.
I wonder if Australians are a bit more balanced. A bit more discerning...I hope so.

As alluded to in the last post, a certain Melbourne based AFL club has had its confidential medical records lost, literally in the gutter, which reveal that two players from the same club had failed drug tests twice, and had both been admitted to the same drug rehab clinic. I know who the two players are, but am not going to say on this forum.

Brendan Gale has come out quite angrily threatening that players will protest the breach of confidentiality by boycoting some Channel Seven events, and he has also harshly criticised the AFL.

But the most laughable event is AFL head hunch Andrew Demetriou who has come out angrily at Channel Seven. He is seriously trying to deflect attention away from the AFL's own ineptitude in allowing this material to get out. Its like blaming someone for broadcasting something you have done wrong. The AFL have form in this area.....and so I dont buy his denying of AFL's own responsibility in this area.

Amazing how birds seem to flock together, do the same sort of thing...even football teams with bird names......
If you dont know what I mean, you did not hear the news on Friday before the AFL put in its injunction.

Cant wait for my broadband connection to arrive at home, might have it tommorow. Optus new plan $69 per month including all local calls and line rental...cheap. Free modem, which I will have to get a wi-fi router for.

Great send off for two club legends yesterday, and it keeps our mathematical chances of making the 8 alive....GO Tigers!
I think we have to beat Port by 8 goals or something, and other results have to go our way. Very unlikely, especially after seeing them beat Geelong today. That was a very exciting game, especially if you are a Port supporter. Port may even give the flag a shake....anyone but West Toast I say. But I will be barracking for Geelong, being another port city club and not having won for so long, and being my second side.

Good morning at church today. We learnt 'Hosanna' from Hillsong's new album, its very good and definetly singable. I spoke on Noah, and how it is never too late to be what God wants you to become (Noah was 500+) and also on hearing from God's revelation, and acting on it. I also emphasised the need to not live as though Christ needs to rescue us from this world, but try and change it and make it better.

Shane Parker and Troy Cook have announced their retirement from the AFL today.
What legends they are.
Parker: Deserved to be selected for the All Australian Team a number of times. Consinstently played on taller, stronger opponents than himself. When Freo were a basket case, and consistently lost, he has Mr Integrity.

Cook: I remember watching him play in a pre season practice game against the Bulldogs, and the crunching tackle he laid could be heard around the almost empty Subiaco oval. He also signed my Freo shirt when I bought him a beer at the Cervantes Tavern on Grand final day (when the Eagles lost to Sydney)

Both legends, and Shane especially deserved more success and recognition.

Speaking on Noah this week, one man who stood up and made a difference in his world....

Here's some lighter learning from Noahs story

(1) Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.
(2) Stay fit. When you’re 600 years old, someone might ask you to do something really big.
(3) Don’t listen to critics. Do what has to be done.
(4) Build on high ground.
(5) For safety’s sake, travel in pairs.
(6) Two heads are better than one.
(7) Speed isn’t always an advantage. The cheetahs were on board, but so were the snails.
(8) If you can’t fight or flee -- float.
(9) Take care of your animals if they were the last ones on earth.
(10) Don’t forget that we’re all in the same boat.
(11) When the doo-doo gets really deep, don’t sit there and complain ?shovel!
(12) Stay below deck during the storm.
(13) Remember that the ark was built by amateurs and the Titanic was built by professionals. (14) If you have to start over, have a friend by your side.
(15) Remember that the woodpeckers inside are often a bigger threat that the storm outside. (16) No matter how bleak it looks, there’s always a rainbow on the other side.
(17) DON’T MISS THE BOAT!!!
(Don Kryer, Frontline Fellowship)

Here is a video loop I have made up to play while I am dribbling on....

aaargh
those of you who know me know I spent 3 days at RPH earlier in the year with undiagnosed stomach/digestive problems. Quite serious...but no one really knew what to do, I had swarms of doctors and surgeons looking over me, prodding me, even in places where men should not prod other men :(

Last night the same basic symptons came back, and I missed worship practice....
Feeling better today...and hoping it was just a mild bout....But its not easy to focus on my message preparation, especially with a good mate going through a terribly dissapointing day.

How can someone be a bishop when they dont believe in the gospel?

I believe in tolerance and grace...but I do not believe in letting heretics be leaders in the church.

"Spong does not consider the Bible the primary source of divine revelation, or believe it inspired. It is a human book containing some profound wisdom and culture-bound limitations. "

"But Spong rejects the doctrine of atonement. "The Christ figure makes great sense to me. What doesn’t make sense is that God needed to kill Jesus to overcome Barney’s sins," he says, pointing at the interviewer. "

Look, people have freedom to believe what they want....but dont call yourself a Christian, then deny basic Christian beliefs...and dont try to pretend you are a bishop and speak for Christians....you dont...you are a heretic and should be thrown out of the church.

PS...One of Spongs main beefs is that the church is dying, and therefore needs to be relevant...mmmm... "Negative: During his tenure as Bishop of Newark, confirmed communicants in the diocese virtually halved, from 44,423 in 1978, to 23,073 in 1996" mmmmmm....

Story
H/t Phil Baker for link

Well, the gutless thug got what he deserved, 7 weeks. Interesting that is was his own testimony that got him convicted. Baker's version of events is what the tribunal believed. However they judged that by him stopping it was reckless and deserved suspension. With a couple of weeks already hanging over the thugs kneck, he copped 7.

Here is the message from Sunday from Exodux 3....you can say a fair bit in 19 minutes.
Based it around a couple of quotes about life...Moses...Revelation and hope.

or you can download it

Wonder how all the Christians who heard Rudd last week are feeling now? Let down? Dissapointed? Don't care?
How are all the Rudd supporting Bloggers feeling? Will they say....well Howard is more guilty of sinning with his policy on immigration, social reforms etc....
Are they right?

It seems morality is polarised between traditional Christian morality...no sex before marriage etc.....and a new emphasis on active morality...caring for the poor.
Interesting...either way..will this incident be a vote breaker for some people?

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said the story would endear Mr Rudd to voters because it showed he had "blood in his veins".

Treasurer Peter Costello declined to criticise Mr Rudd, but said he had never visited the Scores club

Journalist Glen Milne who broke the story, and who was drunk and abusive at last years Walkley awards, says that Rudd is a control freak, who needs to realise that he cannot control thr truth.

Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) managing director Jim Wallace said everyone made mistakes.

Two thugs won the game for St Kilda on Saturday.
Third quarter we kicked the first goal...and looked like making a comeback...until the perenial gutless wonder Baker decided to 'king hit' Farmer FROM BEHIND.

Gutless cheat Baker.....deserves 6 weeks for that. Probably will get off because Farmer does not get frees.
Interesting that Voss saw it...Now I find out Voss is still on Brisbanes list, and has to front up as a witness if called.

Gherig played his best game for the year and was unstoppable, well done for a no-kneck thug. Interesting though that he did not kick a goal in the 4th quarter when Mc Pharlin went on him. Harvey should have made that move sooner.
As much as it hurts me to say it, I hope West Coast thrash St Kilda next week...and Richmond thrash them the week after.