backyardmissionary

enchanted dvd One of my big concerns in regard to the budget on this trip was how I would
fund reading. Books are expensive and I love to read. I figured it could add
at least $50.00/week to the costs unless I could find a way of getting good
cheap books. So to discover some gems in Op shops has been a real bonus.

The Halls Creek op shop had a number of half decent titles as well as the
usual pulp stuff and the Salvo shop in Kununurra has several books worthy of
a read. I bought 4 books for the grand sum of $7.00 which has to make a
bibliophile very happy.

As I was rummaging thru the laundry baskets of books in the Kununurra op
shop I came across one entitled Following Jesus by a bloke called Segundo
Galilea (Danelle reckons he sounds like a coffee bean) and after a brief
skim decided it was worthy of purchase. Galilea is a Chilean Catolic priest
and liberation theologian who has written a short and relatively simple book
around the theme of what it means to truly dedicate ourselves to
discipleship. I read many books of this kind, but not often from this
perspective so I figured it would be a good balance to the predominantly
North American based stuff that I find myself reading.

It’s immediately worth noting that our context has a huge impact on shaping
our theology - much more than we tend to give it credit for. The Latinos and
others from impoverished contexts gave us liberation theology and wealthy
white westerners gave us prosperity theology. I haven’t come across a name
for a theology that has its roots in suburban western life, but is not
prosperity driven. I imagine it would be something like ‘comfort theology’
or ’security theology’ as that it what seems to form so much of our middle
class western dreams. Hence Jesus becomes the one who makes life safe and
secure for us. as if.

This is challenging because we have to admit that it’s impossible to do any
kind of theological reflection outside of a context. And because of that we
need to regularly be open to the insights of other cultures to help us get a
fuller revelation. At times this can be challenging and it may even seem
that our brothers are waaay off the mark. however reality is that we may be
the ones missing the point.

Here are 3 few quotes from Following Jesus that I thought worthy of sharing.

“We believe that it is appropriate to the religious life to call into
question or even protest against the church and society: against the church
to the extent that it I decadent or ambiguous, or has lost its radical
dynamism; against society, to the extent that it become dehumanized or
dechristianised (not sure what he means by this), and thus the source of
oppression and injustice” p.82

So. If we are leaders with any nouse then we will be protesters when we see
either the church or society lose their way. We won’t stay silent and tow
the party line, but we will have the courage to speak up - loudly. The net
result of this is that we will not be popular for long.

“A religious movement will never be authentic unless it returns to the root
of its own prophetism. Its radicalism is a sign of vitality and of its right
to continued existence. Its absence is a void that calls into question its
very reason for existence in the church and society. One of the causes of
the present crisis in religious life rests on the fact that many who have
given themselves to this life have discovered this void” p. 83

How true. When we lose our founding charism we become a social club and this
is one of the issues we are currently grappling with as the church in the
west.

“Normally the people of greatest character, most maturity, are those who
have the greatest difficulty with obedience. This is quite normal. One does
not arrive a free obedience without passing through rebellions. Obedience
consists of a synthesis between the acceptance of the will of God and a
complete Christian freedom. It is extremely difficult. It is a work of the
Holy Spirit. And one does not arrive at this without having passed through
many crises and even through many errors.” P. 93

I thought this was insightful. A conformist finds ‘obedience’ easy. A
non-conformist or a questioner will struggle much harder to accept the rule
of another.

This book has some real gems and is worth a read.

We have been in Townsville since Friday and have been enjoying being back in relative civilization – if you can call Queenslanders civilized… ?

It was a big drive across and not that interesting to say the least. The section of the Barclay Highway between Mt Isa and Richmond I am officially renaming the Barclay Track – only to be attempted with a 4WD! Seriously – someone in the Qld gov needs to have a good look at that one. It’s a shocker – like a roller coaster!

The kids were excited to get to Townsville as they were keen to stay at Caravan park they had seen in the brochures. Sam revealed the power of branding when he insisted we consider a ‘Big 4’ park next place we stay. So here we are in the Walkabout Palms Big 4 right on the edge of town and at the intersection of two of the busiest roads in Townsville! It is well set up and we have enjoyed a few days of comfort and indulgence (hot showers and electricity). The mosquitos and heat bugs that have plagued us all the way around disappeared when we got here too. Its been great to sit down at night and not be constantly swatting bugs away or waking up in the night scratching yourself… so to speak…Aside from the constant road noise that reminds us we are back in the city it has been a good place to stay.

We have been in and out of Townsville City a bit and spent a bit of time down on the Strand – the beachfront area. We have lazed around a bit and done the usual school stuff. I was finally able to download the Iphone 3.0 update which allows the phone to function as a modem, so the kids have been able to do their Mathletics and our internet hasn’t been restricted to a 3 inch Iphone screen. 3 G reception actually gives you reasonable speed and with 1 gig of download in my monthly virgin allowance we are pretty well set.

I have to say that my first impression of Qld is one of commercialism. I know we are tourists of a sort, but I have really enjoyed a ‘rougher’ Australia than we find here at the moment. I can only imagine how we will feel when we hit the Gold Coast…

As of tomorrow we begin heading north towards Cairns and the towns up that way. We don’t really know what to expect so we will just be figuring it out on the run. We got offered 3 nights in Palm Cove at a 4 ½ star resort for $200.00 which sounded tempting. It involved listening to someone drone on about Timeshare for 90 mins – which I could do with no problem and not get suckered into – but the more we thought about how we’d need to reorganize car and camper etc we decided it wasn’t worth the hassle. We are well organized in the camper now and the appeal of a luxury apartment just wasn’t enough to sway us believe it or not.

Danelle has reorganized the camper so that our storage is much more efficient. The only problem is now I have no clue where things are… It took me 9 weeks to get the hang of plan A and now I need to remember that my clothes are in the ‘bread cupboard’!

Anyway, that’s a brief update on the traveling Hamos.

Sadly… propaganda works

I wish I could easily recall a time when I heard a politician from the left side of politics actually affirm the decision of someone on the ‘right’, or vice versa. But it seems that written into the political job description is ‘except in the most embarrassingly obvious situations DISAGREE at all costs!’

It seems every time the left has an idea the right will fault it… Or every time the right do something well the left find flaws.

If life were as black and white as some politicians make it sound then it would be simple to choose who to vote for… But what you actually read is not pure information or even reasoned opinion, but ‘propaganda’ - a unique kind of perspective and one that actually insults the intelligence of the listener.

It assumes we are dumb enough to see complex questions as having simple solutions. It assumes us = good and them = bad.

It ought to be an embarrassment to the people who use it, and it should be - except that it works! People fall for the nonsense that gets said on tv and in the media - more fool us…

Let’s be honest folks - no political party has all the right answers - nor is any of them devoid of some useful insights, but the rabid bickering and arguing that seems to characterise so much of the political game is so tedious.

In fact its one of the main reasons I have never run for prime minister…

Last October we accepted the invitation to lead Quinns Baptist Church for a short trial period before going on our trip. Today was the day that the church voted on our re-call.

The result of the vote was such that we will not be returning to work with that community. In most Baptist churches a 75% majority is required to be on staff. The 12 who voted ‘no’ was sufficient to swing the vote against us.

Obviously we are disappointed for ourselves, but moreso for the many good people in the church who we have connected with and shared the journey with.

There is much more that I could say on this topic, but a public blog isn’t the place. This is just for those who may be interested to let you know the outcome.

I don’t know where my links to other blogs went…

I updated to the next version of worpress and they have disappeared. So for those who are worried that they may have offended me… nope…

Just lost em!

Its pretty much impossible to travel anywhere in outback Oz and not be
struck by the impact of both alcohol and pornography. All throughout the
Kimberley’s, the NT and remote Qld are large signs identifying ‘restricted
areas’ - zones where alcohol is either strictly limited or where it is
banned and where possession of even soft porn incurs a hefty fine - think
$5000.00.

Why is this the case?…

And is it just aboriginal people who this is wreaking havoc amongst?

It has caused me to reflect deeper on how we deal with these issues in a
non-indigenous setting. I wonder if alcohol wasn’t currently legal - and if
we knew its social impact - if we would even ponder making it readily
available? I actually tend to think not. Given the amount of grief that has
been wrought in our own communities through alcohol abuse, I imagine that at
some level simple ‘common sense’ would dictate that we make it a prohibited
substance. (Yes - I know this leads to other problems / black market etc).

It seems that the impact of alcohol on aboriginal people is more visible
because they are louder, often have their disputes in public and don’t seem
to have the same concern for ‘decorum’ that we anglos appear to have. But my
observation is that the impact on middle class white folks is often not much
different. It just (usually) happens behind closed doors.

I have to say that I am a lover of red wine and I regularly enjoy a beer, so
what I am writing disturbs me greatly. I don’t write this from any
theological conviction re the rightness or wrongness of drinking - I hope
those debates have gone the way of the dinosaur - but if there were a
theological frame to slot this into it would be that of how we shape the
kingdom now and how we best love our neighbour. Is it more loving and more
in line with the shaping of God’s kingdom to abstain from alcohol and to ask
others to do likewise?…

I don’t think any politician would ever have the balls to run a prohibition
campaign - not here in Australia - so we will never go that route - but I am
somewhat perplexed by this wonderful substance that I enjoy so much, yet
that seems to be the root of so much social evil. Of course I understand
that the root of the ‘root’ is a ’sinful nature’ that uses good things in
wrong ways, but I can’t help wondering what a community would be like in the
absence of any alcoholic drink.

Honestly - I don’t like the thought of it! I’d miss my evening glass of red,
but I was saying to Danelle this afternoon that if we actually knew that
complete abstinence was the key to a healthier society then I’d be prepared
to bite that bullet. I think the aboriginal communities have been learning
this the hard way. I wonder why we haven’t seen similar restrictions come
into white communities?… I guess its cause no one would ever allow it, but
perhaps we need to rethink this one. (he says still not really wanting to go
there.)

As for porn.

Well any moron knows that porn is evil stuff and messes with people at all
levels. Obviously the extent of child abuse in aboriginal communities has
been a catalyst for its prohibition, but I wonder why we still permit this
one in our communities? What level of porn related child abuse, female abuse
etc is acceptable? Obviously we feel that some level is ok as we don’t rail
against it. Is it just too hard?

Sometimes we just live in the world we know and don’t question the way
things are.

Many of you would have seen the ‘Truman show’. A movie in which the central
character (Truman’s) entire life is a TV show but he doesn’t know - he is
completely unaware. He has been caught in a giant studio right from birth
and every other person is an actor. It’s the ultimate voyeur television with
people all round the world waiting on his every move.

At one point the creator of the show is interviewed. His name is Christov.
The interviewer asks Christov the creator of the show, why hasn’t Truman
ever cottoned on to the fact that his life is a sham?

Why hasn’t he realised?

Its a fair question. Christov replies quite profoundly “we accept the
reality of the world with which we are presented” . How true… we accept
the reality that we grew up - our family’s reality - our local community’s
reality - we accept the media constructed reality - the world as the TV
tells us it is.

Maybe we have accepted a reality in regards to alcohol that actually needs
to be questioned.

Maybe we all need to ask more questions generally.

But - yes - sometimes I worry about where the answers would lead us.

In short - banal crap.

‘Biker Chicks’ claimed to be a study into why girls like bad boys. In reality it was a pretty boring collection of stories stitched together with a guise of academia.

Don’t waste your time on this one

21.6.2009

Yesterday we left an overnight roadside stop about 50 km out of Mataranka
and headed south expecting to get to a lake near the town of Elliot. It was
a cold night and the rumble of road trains every 15 mins or so was a
reminder to try and find campsites a little further off the main drag.

We stopped at Mataranka to enjoy the thermal pools and at 34 degrees C they
were great! The nights and mornings are very cool now - I even dragged the
trakky daks out last night - so to have a warm bath was very nice. Getting
out again was a different matter!

From Mataranka we went to Daly Waters where we planned on doing a lunch
stop, but ended up staying the night. We had heard it was a fun place and
very unique and at $20.00 / night for a powered site we thought it too good
to pass up.

The whole scene is very funky and the pub is a hoot. It’s got a real wacky
outback vibe and needs to be seen - a real Aussie icon! They do a Beef and
Barra BBQ each night so we signed up that - again blowing the budget quite
significantly but it was great stuff and well worth the $$.

A couple of tips though for staying at Daly Waters:

- Position your camper well away from the ablutions. We were right next door
and thought initially thought it great, as we had an ‘ensuite’, but the
leech drains just weren’t coping and the gentle waft of excrement that would
occasionally blow across the camper took away from the experience just a
little…

- Position your camper well away from the pub - or be prepared to stay up
late! The Saturday night crew partied on loud and long probably till
12.00ish and when I saw loud I mean LOUD. I was too cold to go and give them
a rev, but then being Saturday night and it being a pub what could you say
anyway?…

Still - if you’re headed this way then make sure you include it for a stop.
Unpowered sites are only $10/night, there is a pool and it’s a fun
experience.

We also met another family from Ocean Reef who are also doing the lap but
going in the opposite direction so we were able to share tips and learnings.
A shame we weren’t going on the same path as they seemed like cool people.

21.6.2009

You will notice that I’m putting the date into some of these posts now, as I
am posting via email whenever we have access rather than trying to load up
wordpress. Its quicker and more efficient and doesn’t rely on me being
online to actually do it. It does seem to lose some formatting occasionally
so if some posts look a little weird then that’s why.

Sadly pictures are also difficult to upload so if you are wanting to see
some images of where we are at then facebook is still the best option. I
completely understand if you can’t be bothered with facebook! We have found
it very useful for keeping our friends up to date with where we are at, but
it certainly can be an enormous time waster.

Because we will be travelling across to Queensland for the next week or I
imagine net access will be more intermittent so expect ‘bulk uploads’.

As I was reflecting this week on how the old time missionaries went about
their work in different cultures there was plenty to critique - plenty that
we would do differently today.

And yet there are people alive now who still give thanks to God for the work
of those people.

I imagine some future generation will one day read about the missional
leaders of the 20/21st Century and wonder in disbelief at how we could be so
foolish or na?ve, yet the simply reality is that we do the best with what we
know and what we have. That is all we can do.

As I write this I am reminded that God works thru all Christians - even
those I might find loopy or offensive.

I don’t know why he does…

Grace is big I guess

I reckon Paul would say ‘if God can work thru me he can work thru
anybody’…

Some days I find that hard to swallow…

19.6.2009

On a visit to one of the cultural centres in Kakadu I picked up this book
and was sufficiently interested by the blurb on the back page to part with
the $29.00 that was the asking price. That’s a big spend from a bloke who
has been buying his books in op shops lately!

Essentially it’s a bit of a history of Arnhem Land from time before whites
ventured there right thru to today. It tells a pretty sorry story of people
dispossessed and subsequently disorientated by the changes. It traces the
various attempts to develop white settlements which were by and large a
failure until the mining companies discovered substances of value…

With the mining companies came royalties and a whole new way of life for a
group of people who were surviving just fine. While we may have looked on in
sympathy at primitive shelters and dirty conditions, the current situation
is in many ways worse.

The author - Andrew McMillan - says that in regards to white habitation of
Arnhem Land it is either misfits, missionaries or mercenaries who go there.
He is particularly harsh on the missionaries, and his invective towards
Christians in general is a bit overdone. While the missionaries definitely
made some mistakes they at least went there with noble intentions. Perhaps
the most abhorrent things the old mishos did was to try and root the
‘aboriginality’ out of the people either by separating kids from parent so
they couldn’t learn culture, or by beating them for practicing their
culture.

Of course when the mining companies came the amount of alcohol increased and
many people didn’t know what to do with the $$$ they initially received.
McMillan is quick to point out that alcohol and money destroyed a culture.
His depictions of life on Grootye Eylandt are particularly sad as they show
the violence, aggression and loss of hope that seems to depict life in these
communities.

He spend a lot of time telling the story of Galarrwuy, the bloke who
finished up leading Youth Yindi (and who has been a significant leader for
the Arnhem people. Ironically this same man spent 3 years in a Queensland
Bible College preparing to come back and share the gospel with the people
only to return, see the chaos and decide he’d had enough of the church
nonsense and that there was a more important cause to put his energies to -
that of bringing some dignity back to the people of his land. Pretty sad.

It wasn’t a super easy read, but if you have an interest in how things have
taken shape in that part of the world then its well worth dipping into. If
you’re a Christian then you’ll need to read it patiently as he doesn’t have
much time for us

19.6.2009

We are now 9 weeks into the trip with 19 to go…

In the last week we have been in Darwin and Litchfield park checking out the
many beautiful things there are to see. We stayed at a newly erected caravan
park called Pandanus on Litchfield and it was probably the best value we
have had thus far. Caravan parks average $38-40 / night, but this one was
$27 and came with an ensuite. Admittedly it still needed a few finishing
touches but it was one of the best value places we have come across.

Darwin was nice and actually very cold for two or three of the nights we
were there. We were rugged up and wearing jumpers around at night. The days
were still warm to hot though and often a bit muggy.

It sounds terrible to say, but I’m actually a bit ‘over’ waterfalls, plunge
pools and beautiful rugged scenery… The NT has been sensational and we
have loved everything that we have seen and done, but it seems that there
comes a time when you say ‘oh come on… not another waterfall…’

* Today we made the effort to check out Edith Falls just north of Katherine
as we headed back down and began the journey towards Qld. Yep… it was
beautiful - stunning and all those things, but it took some effort. Right
now it’d be nice to have a change of scenery. I thought I was the only
‘heretic’ and then today as we were leaving Litchfield, we bumped into Craig
and Jill (fellow travelers from Mindarie) who expressed similar sentiment. I
guess it’s the ‘too much of a good thing’ problem…

* Actually I have been ruminating (sounds painful doesn’t it?…) on a quote
from Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part 1. You may well be asking what the hell
does H IV have to do with anything?… But the quote (which I had to learn
for my year 12 English Lit exam) says “If all the year were playing sport,
to holiday would be as tedious as to work”. I have felt that a little over
the last week as I have experienced some tedium in the journey. I’m not
ready to come home yet, not even close, but I have to acknowledge that for a
person who likes ’stuff to get on with’, I have felt a little too laid back
at times.

Before anyone yells at me that I am supposed to be on holidays and that it
is ok, I am aware of that, but its just one my own personality traits, to be
productive… so occasionally I will struggle with simply sitting and doing
nothing.

Blogging allows me to feel like I am ‘doing something’!

* While we’re on personality traits, little Miss Homesick continues to
struggle with being away. Yesterday she reminded us that no matter how good
any of our trip was (Cable Beach, Emma Gorge, Wangi Falls etc) nothing
actually matched up to being at school… I’d so love to take her home for 6
weeks and watch her face… Its been a challenge being sympathetic and yet
also having to tell her to snap out of it because it ruins the vibe for
everyone else.

* A completely different personality trait would be that of Sam who is in no
hurry anywhere. He eats baked beans one bean at a time… and rice one grain
at a time… seriously… He is always the last one finished at any meal -
often because he just doesn’t even notice that it’s been put in front of
him. He’s a wonderful little bloke and we’ve been having lots of fun, but
meal times do take a while!

The kids have been growing in confidence with their swimming, Sam
especially. A couple of days back he swam about 50 m with me out to Wangi
Falls and back again. Its great to see them developing in that way.

* School has been rolling along quite nicely abeit repetitively! I had
forgotten how much of lower primary is doing the same stuff over and over
(and over). I find it hard not to get bored so I tend to invent new things
to do to teach the same old stuff. On days when I can’t think of anything I
almost fall asleep while sitting with them.

* It will be interesting to see what state the Jayco is in when we come
home. I think these things were made for a family to take on holidays 2 or 3
times a year and the rest of the time lock in a garage. I’m not sure anyone
envisaged a family of 4 taking on Australia with it. We have had to do a few
running repairs where seating frames have broken and odd bits and pieces
have come apart. Its not about to die yet, but we do wonder how it will look
after another 4 months.

* Miscellaneous items continues to be the bane of the budget. It seems that
every week you discover something new that you ‘need’. This week we managed
to purchase a small inverter to run a few appliances when we are in an
unpowered situation and also to power the laptop for a few movies as we do
the big drive to Qld. Danelle also saw that Woolies were offering 30% off a
6 pack of wine so spent some $$ on that. We have been surviving on el cheapo
wines and casks so to actually have some decent stuff will be a treat.

* I’m not sure I should mention it, but The Secret Seven have been the kids
nightly fodder listening to the often painful adventures of the precious and
annoying Peter and his spiffingly jolly nice friends. I remember loving them
as a kid, but they seem so dated now. The book’s language is a reminder of
how much things change… Might need to get hold of Lockie Leonard…

* Of particular note in Darwin is the daily promo for the headlines in the
local newspaper. It seems to be a challenge to come up with something a bit
wackier each day. Today’s concerned a ‘Horny Emu’ while yesterday’s was
about ‘Nude Tourists Distracting City Workers’… It’d be funny if it
weren’t the city’s main rag!

Anyway, for those who are still following my inane holiday ramblings there’s
a random collection of thoughts that reflects a little bit of my brain stew
for the past week

We are camped on the side of the road tonight as we have blown this week’s
budget and are trying to save a few $$$. There are about 20 other vans and
campers in the same area listening to the road trains thunder by.

So at 9.05 on a Friday I’m off to bed…

22.6.2009

It’s great when you find a little spot out of the way that is both beautiful
and free. While we were in Barn Hill our ‘next door neighbours’ told us of
Longreach Waters, a larger inland lake just 12km out of the little town of
Elliot. Apparently it is not well known to tourists and provides great free
camping alongside a lake full of birds and mussels.

Well we are here now - have stayed one night and will probably stay another
1 or 2. It is a really nice spot and the only downside is that the water is
a bit muddy and not that great to swim in - although it’s probably only been
25 or 26 degrees C for the last few days so no one is too worried.

We saw lots of mussel shells on the bank near where we camped so Sam and I
went exploring to try and snaffle a bit of local sea-food. We wandered up to
waist deep in sludge for a little while and managed to find some snail like
creatures, but couldn’t locate the mussels. A bit of local knowledge would
be handy about now, but we haven’t seen any aboriginal folks down here. The
cook was doing up lemon chicken for dinner so we decided that as appetizing
as the snails may have been we would settle for chicken…

We did drop up to meet our ‘neighbours’ yesterday - some people camped about
a km up the lake, but upon getting closer realized they were doing it ‘el
naturel’… We didn’t want to terrify the kids so we turned back and left it
at that… and I told Ellie to put away the binoculars!

The pelicans are funny birds… I’m no ornithologist but it has been
intriguing watching them. They move up the river like a flotilla and duck
for food as a unit. Amusing to see 50 pelican all do ‘heads down bums up’ in
unison!

To get to Longreach Waters turn right just before the cattle grid as you
enter Elliot and drive 12kms west until you hit the lake. If you aren’t
going here then just keep driving because Elliot is not inspirational at
all…

If I had to sum up the one thing I have been sensing from God over the last
8 weeks it would be that the prophetic identity of the church must increase.
I have been feeling this with a growing intensity so I share it here for
your reflection.

To clarify, by ‘prophetic identity’ I don’t mean the giving and receiving of
prophecy but I am referring to the need for the church to be both able to
reflect on its own nature as well as the nature of the society of which it
is a part.

I am increasingly convinced that our ‘missional’ voice is tied to our
prophetic voice and if we can’t live significantly different lives and
reflect the kingdom in the things we do, then chances are people will not be
the least bit interested in our words. By the same token part of the
church’s role in society is to critique the ways we seek meaning and
fulfillment and to boldly point people back to Jesus - knowing that many
will still regard this as folly.

This quote from Segunda has resonated deeply with me over the last few
weeks:

“We believe it is appropriate to the religious life to call into question or
even protest against church and society; against the church to the extent
that it is decadent or ambiguous, or has lost its radical dynamism; against
society to the extent that it has become dehumanized or dechristianised and
thus the source of oppression and injustice” p.82 Following Jesus

Newbiggin has said that the ‘church is the hermeneutic of the gospel’, or in
laymans terms ‘the way the local church expresses itself communicates
clearly the nature of our gospel’.

I find that at times my life seems to look like nothing more than a
religious version of ordinary suburban existence as I fall into line with
everyone else, but I desire much more than this.

Our Upstream Communities identity was birthed in the midst of studying the
sermon on the mount, one of the most confronting and disturbing parts of
scripture you will ever read. It continues to challenge and inspire me to
live differently even if I do it somewhat poorly at times. My mate Jarrod
Mckenna reminds me that these are not a collection of ‘ideals’ that Jesus
presents here, but that they are his instructions for how we are to live. He
wants us to read it and do it…

I don’t think it would be any trouble to invert the beatitudes and observe
much of contemporary western culture - yet our challenge is to somehow live
in them and call others both within and outside the church to embrace them
also.

I find this concept of being ‘prophetic’ disturbing because it involves
critiquing and disturbing both within and without, a practice that rarely
makes you lots of friends. I have done a fair bit of critique over the last
few years as we have asked questions of mission and church, but I don’t feel
that time has come to an end. In fact if anything I feel it stirring
strongly again.

If the church has a healthy future then I believe that reclaiming its
prophetic voice is an important step.download andromeda strain the dvdrip free rocky ii dark half the free download download rush hour dvd

step brothers dvdrip

Last night Danelle and I went out to dinner - our first few hours alone in 8
weeks of traveling. It was nice to get away from the little people for a
while.

It’s always hard to know where to go for a good feed, especially when in a
different city. A rough internet search finished up with me suggesting we
try The Jetty, a buffet restaurant down by the water and pretty reasonably
priced.

They advertise themselves as ‘Steak & Seafood’ so I figured there was
something for everyone. We got there in time for sunset - which actually
didn’t matter because you couldn’t see the sunset… and decided on an
outside table on the verandah right over the water. You could tell you were
in Darwin by the sign on the wall that said ‘please don’t feed the fish or
crocodiles’…

It was a balmy Darwin night and it was a beautiful spot to be. The waiter
took our wine order and the wine came about 20 minutes later, a little after
we had eaten our first course… the first sign they were understaffed or a
little disorganized.

The food was a mix of the superb and the very ordinary - but then that’s to
be expected at a buffet. The cold seafood was great, the steak superb and
the veggies very nice. The chilli crab was dry as a bone, the ‘crab claw’
was seafood extender wrapped in breadcrumbs and the pork in plum sauce was
more batter than pork. Still there was enough there to enjoy and plenty of
variety to savour.

When it was time for sweets the options were passionfruit cheesecake, fruit
salad or two varieties of sponge cake with either lemon icing or chocolate
icing. My tip would be to get rid of the sponge cake. It gave it that
’sizzler’ feel and didn’t do anyone any favours.

We bravely ordered a coffee and then went to get some sweets to enjoy with
the coffee. Forty five minutes later the sweets were gone and the coffee
hadn’t arrived. We managed to grab a waiter and 15 minutes later had the
second lamest coffee I have had in a long time - a tasteless weak flat white
made from stale beans. I knew it was a gamble, but it was still pretty
awful.

We drank the coffee and headed for the exit where the total cost was $75.00
- for dinner and wine (we agreed that the coffee shouldn’t be paid for…)

All in all pretty good value for money given the nature of the restaurant.download train master free

barbie as the island princess divx movie online

paths of glory free

I like Darwin - and that is a surprise. My perceptions from afar were that I wouldn’t like it much at all so it has been a pleasant surprise.

We are staying with Danelle’s cousin in Howard Springs right on the outskirts if town. It has been a warm 30′degrees each day, but the day after we arrived it was like someone flicked a switch and the evenings have got cold. I’m talking wintry type of cold! Again it has made us look at the camper and ask ‘ what will it be like when it gets really cold?!’

We haven’t ‘done’ a heap. We went to the wave pool today and the WWII museum, last night we joined the tourist crush at Mindil Markets (not my cup of tea) and we have had a general look around. I think I like the fact that Darwin is a city - but a small one. It has all the amenities of a Perth, but isn’t as spread out (120000 people isn’t a lot)

I could live here… for 4 or 5 months of the year… No one has said the wet season is no big deal yet. Seems the locals hate it so I doubt I would survive. The absence of a decent swimming/surf beach is a shame but otherwise it is quite an attractive city.

We are here till Tuesday and the plan from there is:
Litchfield 2-3 days
Edith falls 2 days
The trip across to Townsville - who knows?… Maybe a week?…

So by the start of July we should be in sunny Queensland and back by the beach.

We have pretty much decided to spend as much time in the warmer areas as we can, as rain be cold just hasn’t proved to be a real winner in the camper. It means we might see less of the southern parts this time around, but our plan is to do this every 5 or 6 years so next time we will go a different route

Anyhow that’s where we are at!driven online

• divx scooby doo and the loch ness monster

We left Jabiru this morning and have arrived in Darwin where we are staying with Danelle’s cousins.

We had a great time in Kakadu, but didn’t get to see as much as I would have liked. We chose a waterhole to visit on the way in only to discover the road in was closed - too many crocs in the water apparently, and we skipped the 2 hr 4WD into Jim Jim Falls as we felt the kids would probably go nuts! Those were two of the places I would have particularly liked to see so that was a bit of a bummer.

We did get to Noorlangie Rock, Ubirr, the various visitors centres (which are brilliantly set up) and a couple of other minor spots. Kakadu enters the journal under the heading of ’see it properly next time’. It really is a beautiful place and we didn’t do it justice, but that’s just how it will be on a pretty quick trip around.

We met a great couple from Switzerland who we shared some coffee, wine and conversation with. It was nice to catch up and share stories.

The Jabiru Caravan Park is really good, but still suffers a little from mosquitos. We sat outside at night and talked but unless you coated yourself in Rid you could expect to get well and truly munched. I hate spraying the stuff, but I hate mozzies more, so I had to put up with it.

If there was a place we loved it was the rocks at Ubirr, but the kids were both grumpy that day and complaining of the heat so it was hard to really relax and enjoy. Such is life with kids though…

So we are in Darwin and will be here for a few days up to a week depending on what we discover. I am ready for a decent pizza and we have some repairs to do on the camper so I will source the parts while I am here. And then there are the markets… Danelle is salivating at the thought of them and I will tag along dutifully and keep my naughty market thoughts to myself…

So Kakadu or Kakadont? I say ‘DO!’ but give it more time than we did and be prepared for mosquitos.cadillac man dvdrip download it s all about love download

• one way dvdrip

• download honkytonk man free

We left Katherine yesterday and headed on thru to Cooinda in Kakadu. We skipped one nice looking spot in favour of another just 40ks up the road. However when we got there the road was closed… Bugger…

So we headed in Cooinda on the rec of some folks we had met at Palm Springs. We finished up on the outer limits of the campsite about a days drive from the pool and showers! At 5 o’clock we came back from the pool to make dinner and discovered the mosquito plague. We were assaulted from all directions which made for a most unenjoyable evening.

Because it was so nasty outdoors Sam and I had baked beans on toast for dinner and the girls had vegemite toast. We met a couple from Two Rocks - fair dinkum ‘cashed up bogans’ with the mullet to match. They had sold up in Perth, bought a 32ft cat in Thailand and were sailing their way around oz and the pacific. We chatted for a while and slightly envied the life of these 43 year old grandparents before hitting the sack.

This morning we woke to mozzies all over the flyscreen of the camper and full on dive bomb assaults every time we walked outside. The decision to move on was easily made! I did the outside pack up amid the plague while Danelle knocked over the dishes and then we got on the road.

On the way to Jabiru we stopped at the Aboriginal Cultural center in Cooinda (free, air con and mozzie free) which was really good, Noorlangi Rock / lookout where there were aboriginal rock paintings and them we headed into the campsite at Jabiru.

We have forsaken the rougher bush camping when in an environment where it is hot and swimming is not possible, so currently we are at the Kakadu Caravan Park in Jabiru for the next couple of days before we hit Darwin and stay with Danelle’s cousin.

I’m off to roast some coffee as the 2 of I left home with 7 weeks ago is almost used up - if not in quantity then certainly in quality.

• what doesn t kill you dvd download

divx love takes wing

divx homeward bound ii lost in san francisco

download joy ride end of the road movie

We’ve been in Katherine for a few days now after going to Lake Argyle (well worth the drive off the main drag) and an overnight stop at Big Horse campsite in Gregory National Park - probably better named ‘Smelly Fish’ campsite on account of the smell that wafted around camp all evening!

It felt like a looooong drive into Katherine - it was only 270km but that day it seemed to take for ever. Some days are like that when travelling and for no apparent reason…

We have been seeing a bit of Katherine and also having a bit of down time. It feels strange to get tired when you do very little all day, but I have felt quite weary here. We are taking the kids for a canoe up the gorge tomorrow so hopefully that will go well.

On our fairly tight budget we are reluctant to spend too much on luxuries or on things that are excessively expensive. We are also concious that we could take the kids on a 4 hr canoe trip and they could be over it within 30 mins!

It’s a challenge to do things well, spend enough but not too much. Thankfully we are very good at finding things to do that involve minimal cost. We have averaged $650/Wk thus far (thanks largely to money saved on accom) so we have a little fat in the budget. Half of me says save it for a rainy day (like a broken camper axels or a blown gearbox) and the other half says ’spend it and enjoy it!’

Anyway that’s where we are today…

I must add that as much as I am not a fan of daylight saving, we have enjoyed being on NT time as the sun comes up around 7 and goes down about 6.30 rather than in Kununurra where it was dark by 5.15pm

We will be here till Saturday and then we are heading to Kakadu, Darwin and Litchfield before heading out of NT

bonneville download free

In my many years of being part of churches I have met my fair share of legalists - people who like to make rules where the Bible doesnt as a way of (at best) stopping others from sinning - or at worst (and much more often) as a way of controlling others and imposing their own moralistic preferences upon them.

I went thru my own rather bizarre legalistic period as a teenager, but I am more and more coming to believe that the ability to truly leave legalism behind is a mark of Christian maturity - although the legalists will call it ‘liberal’ or some other equally nebulous but deprecatory term.

Legalists are often the ones ‘taking stands’ against things and seeking to uphold the moral integrity of the church, however you will never see a legalist taking a stand against self righteousness - in fact they are oblivious to the existence of such a concept.

I am increasingly seeing this as one the worst types of cancers that can infect a community and it is a practice I find almost impossible to tolerate. Once one group of people set themselves as the arbiters of godly behaviour then others are pressured to conform to their false standards of holiness (ironically often defined by the very things they personally struggle with)ghost town the movie free download melatonin nocturnal asthma desyrel dividose

• yeti curse of the snow demon dvd download
lack of melatonin in humans

• genf20 hgh releaser reviews

aqua rhinocort nasal spray babe movie smart people dvdrip download