Holidays start tomorrow!

So here’s a quick ‘life update’ before I shoot thru.

Our weekend retreat was great and was a time of encouragement and refocusing. There were no easy answers to come out of the time away, but a strong sense of re-grouping and re-energising together for the year ahead. We asked the hard questions of ‘do we call it quits?’ or ‘do we throw our hand in with a larger church?’ and the answer to both was a very strong ‘no’. We believe in what we are doing and really feel that this is still what God is calling us to do.

De-group or re-group came back very strongly as a ‘no-brainer’. So despite the challenges and at times discouragements we will keep going.

To try and get over the problem of having no kids we have decided to try and run a kids church program with our kids and any of friends who are up for it on Sunday afternoons. If we can get some of the others to join in that will ease the load for Ellie and Sam who both feel the loss of the Herdens quite deeply. Parents can come/go/stay or whatever, but my guess is we may pick up a few of them along the way – if any of them are willing to have their kids exposed to Jesus… We’ll see. So far I have had one interested response, but there is definitely no rush… We’d value your prayers as we try to create a better space for our kids.

We are also looking at running some spiritual retreats next year – maybe 4 in all – which will be open to all and hopefully will be a place for non-Christians to encounter God. Again, we will need to see what the response is, but its an idea. I imagine that those seeking spiritual direction may well be up for it, and at worst we will find it valuable. T

The challenge will be for busy people in boomtown Perth to stop working and earning $$ for long enough to even contemplate going. It seems so many church leaders I speak to are finding their people off in lala land because of the lure of big dollars in so many places. I believe this obsession with making money to buy more stuff is having an impact on the church and if we have 20 years of ‘economic boom’ then more than the economy will explode.

This economic boom is pushing us to really grapple with how disciples of Jesus live at such times.

We have a Christmas event coming up on Dec 23rd and then our camp in Busselton from 14-21 Jan. Hopefully that will be a valuable time as we have 9 or 10 families from the community coming with us. (Grendel – are you in?!)

Starting the retic business has been great for me as it has given me a new lease of life and helped me connect with some people I never would have previously. Today I rang someone I did a job for 2 weeks ago to see if all was well. They had a system that was doing weird things and 3 guys had looked at it but no one had fixed it. I wasn’t sure i would – in fact I guessed I would probably be returning to them again, but it turns out I managed to solve the issue. Maybe I know than I credit myself for!

So…

Holidays in Denmark…

Its one of my favourite places in the universe. ‘Where the hills meet the sea’ is what the ads say. I have always dreamt of living in a place where the hills and sea are side by side. If I could convince enough people to go with me then maybe…

BTW if anyone wants to buy a really cool old Landy (85 FJ62) in excellent condition with only 206 000Km on the clock then let me know. As much as I love this old beast it just doesn’t have the punch I want in a car so it might be time to pass her on…

I have found my writing suffering from lack of inspiration these last few months, so maybe 10 days away will give me some new energy. Anyway – talk to you soon!