backyardmissionary

Tomorrow morning sees the start of our first WA Forge Intensive for 2006. Hirschy got in tonight, so we’ve been catching up and I’m just finishing some of my own welcome/intro session and ‘End of the World As We know it’ session
Its gonna be a busy week both running the intensive and doing some […]

A pair of reef shoes would have been real nice today!

With a light offshore and 38 degrees forecast, Mick and I headed up to the Alkimos at 9 AM for some waves.
It was one of those magic days you dream of. Perfect surf and the only two guys out paddled in as I went […]

“You see when you are middle class you have to live with the fact that history will ignore you. You have to live with the fact that history will never champion your causes and that history will never feel sorry for you. It is the price to be paid for day to day comfort and […]

Lately at our Upstream gatherings I’ve been experimenting a bit with some different ideas.
I usually like experimentation after the event, but find it stressful before and during it, wondering if it will work out!
Last week’s ‘experiment’ was a relational map, tracking the connections we have made since coming to Brighton.

The idea was simple. […]

I love that episode of the Simpsons where Bart sells his soul to Millhouse for $5.00 and then regrets it. Well… my good friend and our ex Forge team member, Rachel Barr has sold her soul to the coffee devil!!

Hard to believe it could happen to someone you know… but photos don’t lie!
Funnily enough […]

This morning I went and helped out in pre-schoolfrom 8.30-12.00. It was great fun seeing Ellie’s class and spending time with the kids and staff.
The focus for the day was ‘families’ and my job was to help kids draw their families and then write their names. Not hard for most, but for one little […]

Well, the surf didn’t happen!
After an early start and some time studying Jonah for our Upstream gathering I asked the kids if they wanted to hit the beach.

At last!
Some people with no other committments…
And it was beauudiful!!

Its Saturday night at the end of another long day - a wedding out in Jarrahdale (90 min drive from here) followed by a 30th birthday party for my sister in law at Pancho’s Mexican in Vic Park. The wedding was very nice, but it was warm in Jarrahdale so we left feeling tired.
The birthday […]

Tuesday this week was 41 degrees C - the only 40+ day this summer!
It was a day when I had no appointments and was able to get out in the water with Drew for a dive, fish & surf. As we shot out of Mindarie marina we were greeted by a pretty hot and strong […]

Looks like if you live in Germany its an option
I like the paddle back out!

Hehehe…

Sorry Dan

I bought two little fishing rods last Friday to use with local kids in my boat. Of course as soon as I got some from work Ellie and Sam wanted to try them out. So we headed down to Quinns beach at 6.00pm in a howling south westerly and ‘fished’ for 15 mins before running […]

Tomorrow I meet up with my mate Andrew Duncan, as well as a few other fellas for breakfast and shallow conversation.
Last time we met we spoke about the whole idea of ‘googling yourself’, and Andrew mentioned that he didn’t rate a mention on google.
So… this is my attempt at putting ANDREW DUNCAN on the […]

You’ve got to watch the magic fridge!
More senseless frivolity that made me chuckle…

Hehehehe!!…

Its so easy to do.
When you display a charismatic personality and a half decent communication gift you can ‘wow’ people, pull a crowd and before you know it have people ‘following you’ and cheering for you almost irrespective of who you are.
I was reminded of this over the last week as I spent some time […]

Its been a big ‘people’ week.
That’s important because I am not a people person. I like people, but I also need good chunks of ‘time out’ to recover and restore my energy. I’m what I describe as an ‘outgoing introvert’, ie. I can do real well in social situations and get on fine with all […]

Yesterday I met with ‘L’ a regular reader here and a fellow traveller on the road of rethinking mission and church.
I asked L how she was going and her reply was interesting. Recently her mum who suffers from Alzhiemers, had broken her leg, so there was a lot of time being spent visiting her and […]

Today I got back from the .acom Personal Spiritual Formation retreat, 3 days of hanging out with some great people and listening to stories of how lives have been formed and shaped and sometimes broken. It was a great experience and I’m looking forward to spending the year with the crew who are in my […]

I have just changed my preferences re commenting so only those who are approved can get thru my comment filter, supposedly…
I was getting tired of deleting all the porn, viagra etc sites.
If your comment doesn’t appear immediately then it is because you have commented for the first time and I need to say ‘yes’ to […]