backyardmissionary

Its brilliant.
If you haven’t read it yet then you must buy a copy.

Well today confirmed all of our suspicions…
Sam is not going to break any world speed records in his lifetime.

He was in the last heat of the boys 50 m and you can tell by the lack of any other runners in sight where he came in this race!

Ellie (on the left in blue) ran fourth [...]

Today is Sam & Ellie’s athletics carnival.
I am a dad who was a phys ed teacher, pretty keen athlete and trainer of athletes. When athletics carnivals came around I would be there before and after school for 3 months teaching, training and preparing kids for the carnival. We had some outstanding athletes and we developed [...]

Right now there isn’t much that is certain about the road ahead.
However if we’re really honest there never is.
Sometimes we have this illusion of certainty that we sit with for a while, but in truth life is way more fickle than we would like to admit. We don’t have anywhere near as much control [...]

Two years ago my good mate Kent got me into footy tipping (picking who’d win each week - for the benefit of USA readers) and despite my complete lack of football knowledge I managed to do ok last year, even winning the SUWA office comp.
This year I have lobbing along in the top few [...]

James went back and played in the church band yesterday and made some observations about his experience.
His comments on the issue of ’social capital’ in church life are insightful and worth reading.
As one who regularly heads back to ordinary churches I often find myself wondering why it is that we do certain things and at [...]

I don’t mind cats.
No really… I have owned cats and quite like an animal that can look after itself to some degree, unlike a labrador that whines every time it gets put out.
But we have about 15 cats in our street now and I am ready to cull a few - sounds much nicer than [...]

I can’t remember where I found this, but it struck a chord…
“Our central lie is in the discrepancy between the language of worship and the actions of worship. We confess “Jesus is Lord” but only submit to the part of Christ’s authority that fits our grand personal designs, doesn’t cause pain, doesn’t disrupt the American [...]

What do you do?…
You come home for lunch and have a very busy afternoon ahead, but you notice that your dog has spewed up everything he has ever eaten (or so it seems) onto his bed and the floor alongside it. There is a massive green/yellow spew pile sitting there and in very un-dog-like form [...]

Since we’ve been on the missionary journey we have found ourselves much more interested and aware of the places where people live - to be more specific our streets and neighbourhoods.
I remember one day Scott came to visit, partly because he was interested to see this place where we lived and made friends. In one [...]

It wouldn’t be a big deal, but its in the little country town of Donnybrook. Its one of the best kids parks we have been to and the local community have done a great job of getting it up.
Ellie & Sam loved it and it was great to see such a facility in a little [...]

I have just started reading ‘The Missional Leader‘ and have found some excellent insights, particularly the emphasis on the fact that ‘if the spirit of God is present then there is hope’.
This quote resonated deeply:
“In these biblical narratives God is constantly present in places where no one would logically expect God’s future to emerge and [...]

When we woke up yesterday morning I could hardly move because there was so much crap everywhere!

But we got the annexe set up and moved the crap in there. Then all was left to do was enjoy a beudifuul Busso day.
We started the day by going op shopping to pick up some of the stuff [...]

We left for Busselton at 4pm today - a really dumb time because we ran right into rush hour traffic. But Ellie had her first dance lesson today so we couldn’t miss it. The traffic was so crazy near Perth that we pulled off the freeway and had dinner and then gave it another shot [...]

I guess a lot of our understanding of suburban life actually shows up in our movies and fiction so it’s interesting to look at some of the more memorable Australian films and novels that depict some aspects of suburban life.
I am far from an expert here, but if I were to list a few of [...]

Grendel writes a daring post on the Aussie icon - the chiko roll. He suggests it doesn’t deserve its status as one of our most celebrated fast foods. I have to say he pretty much nailed it!
Jason Clark writes a valuable reflection on how we navigate the waters of new movements of the Holy Spirit [...]

After preaching this morning at a local Church of Christ and then this afternoon at the Sudanese church communication has been on my mind.
This morning was a ‘repeat’ sermon, something I find both easy and difficult - easy because I know it, but difficult because I haven’t had to work it thru as tightly [...]

I keep getting asked “So you must be leaving soon?”
Next year we are doing a 6-9 month trip around Oz, across to US and then back home again, but it is not till next year!
I guess relative to when I expect to die, next year in April is quite soon… However we are here [...]

Woohoo - can’t wait…

We have often said this in relation to church buildings.
We build our places of worship and then they can so easily exert control over us and even dictate how we live our life of faith. By calling them ’sanctuaries’ we already give shape to how we will view them. I could give many examples [...]