My wife has gone to Singapore for a few days….shopping and fun holiday with her sisters.
The reality of life without her has just hit me….sleeping alone….that sucks…..
Getting the kids ready…no problem….
Saturday without her….that sucks………
Talking about fasting this week, coupling it with some thoughts on our rampant consumerism….
Here is some interesting facts….
56% of Australians believe they spend almost all their income on basic necessities.
• Expenditure on imported consumer goods rose by 60% between 2000 and 2004.
• Australians spend about $10.5 billion on goods they do not use: food and drink; appliances; exercise equipment; memberships (in 2004, Australians spent about $500m on gym memberships that were never or hardly used).
• Spending on mobile phones rose by 183% between 1999 and 2004.
• Personal debt doubled between 2001 and 2004, and quadrupled between 1996 and 2004.
• The average floor area of a new house increased from 170m2 to 221m2 between 1985 and 2000. In 1955, house population was 3.6 people, in 2000 it was 2.6.
• An average child in the USA, Australia and UK sees between 20-40,000 commercials a year.
• 60% of children spend more time watching television than in school.
• Children as young as 3 recognise brand logos.
• In 2003-04, households spent, on average, just under half (49%) of their total weekly expenditure on food, housing and transport.
• In 2003-04, Australian households spent $893 per week on average on goods and services, an increase from $362 in 1984. While household expenditure increased in absolute dollar terms, spending patterns did not change greatly between 1984 and 2003-04.
• The overall increase in average weekly household expenditure on goods and services between 1998-99 and 2003-04 was $184 or 26.4%. Over the same period, the price of goods and services, as measured by the CPI, rose by 18%.
• A typical supermarket now carries about 20,000 products. Fifteen years ago it would have been about half that.
• Between 20-40% of purchases of food, movies, games, etc, would not have occurred unless a child had nagged their parent/s (Initiative Media study, USA).
• As we spend more and borrow more, so we are forced to work longer hours in order to pay off our debts and afford our purchases. The cost of housing, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, has seen housing debt (mortgages) reach record levels. This is made worse by the fact that the size of our houses is growing, despite the size of our families shrinking. Our houses have doubled in size over the past 50 years.
• The number of Australians working long hours has increased significantly. 31% of our full-time workforce now works in excess of 48 hours a week, something that would be unlawful in Europe. Two million Australians work on average more than 50 hours a week.
The last thing I ever want to be, or my church to be, is mediocre.
At times we are, and I certainly am…..but we don’t want to be, that’s for sure.
I see a God who is creative, energetic, powerful, generous……
I want to be follow my Saviour’s example, and I want my church to as well.
I am not talking about the idea of ‘excellence’ that used to be prevalent, and still is in some quarters, but I am talking about not being mediocre.
I am talking about being creative, generous, unique, purposeful……
This is an excellent article…and I think the applications to Church are many, so I have reprinted it here.
I got a ton of email this week about the Radiohead rollout. The short version: Radiohead (a million-selling rock band) launched their new album as a pay-what-you-want MP3 combined with an expensive boxed set. This is the sort thing I’ve been talking about for seven years and many unknown bands have been doing for at least that long.
A lot of pundits have jumped in and talked about how this is the next big thing. That the music industry is finally waking up and realizing that they can’t change the world… that the world is changing them.
But that’s not the really useful insight here. The question is: why did it take so long, and why did we see it from Prince (CD in the newspaper), Madonna ($120 mm to leave her label and go to a concert promoter) and Radiohead?
Most industries innovate from both ends:
The outsiders go first because they have nothing to lose.
The winners go next because they can afford to and they want to stay winners.
It’s the mediocre middle that sits and waits and watches.
The mediocre record companies, mediocre A&R guys and the mediocre acts are struggling to stay in place. They’re nervous that it all might fall apart. So they wait. They wait for ‘proof’ that this new idea is going to work, or at least won’t prove fatal. (It’s the impulse to wait that made them mediocre in the first place, of course).
So, in every industry, the middle waits. And watches. And then, once they realize they can survive the switch (or once they’re persuaded that their current model is truly fading away), they jump in.
The irony, of course, is that by jumping in last, they’re condemning themselves to more mediocrity.
Missional – Two Sundays ago we had a guy nursing a hangover, a couple that had given up on church years ago and a Muslim attend Compass Point…after we had befriended them through community outreach.
Attractional – This past Sunday they all came back because they liked it the week before.
It’s a stupid argument…you need both!!!
Christians hang out at Starbucks…disconnected people hang out in bars.
and if you want your club to pick him up…….forget it…as he is very likely to be delisted from the AFL, meaning he cant play for any other club…..
as well….SGIO is reviewing its sponsorship of the club…as they should….I’ve had enough of those “not anymore’ ads for a start….and that dork wearing a eagles jumper as well.
The weagles had to do this….otherwise the AFL would definetly take draft picks off them.
Hope Woosha is able to enjoy his holiday in Broome, but somehow I doubt it.
with Cousins and Chick gone, there is only one known drug user left at the Weegirls…he had better be careful.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister John Howard has weighed into the Cousins scandal, warning that the AFL must take a tough line on drugs.
He also described the latest strife to hit the Eagle as a tragedy for a great athlete.
“But I hope that the AFL is as tough as needs be in relation to the culture and attitude within the sport that brought it about,” he said this afternoon.
The Government has been critical of the AFL’s controversial three strikes illicit drugs policy – endorsing a zero tolerance approach to illegal drugs in all sports.
Mr Howard said he felt sorry for the star footballer’s family and he hoped the player was able to get a grip on his problem.
“I think it is a personal tragedy for a very talented young man,” Mr Howard said.
I actually have a lot of sympathy for Ben Cousins, and I hope that at some point in the future he is able to relax, and think that life is okay, and that the demon hand of drugs has left him. I hope he does no more self harm to himself, and lives a long and good life.
However, he cannot possibly be allowed to play football anymore. The West Coast should do something strong, which they have failed to do thus far, and they must sack him. If they dont, they will have no reputation left at all, if indeed they have any credibility.
SGIO, an insurance company, a solid citizen of the corporate world, must also withdraw their sponsorship of the club. The corporate world should not support a club which takes no moral responsibility for the behaviour of its players.
West Coast must act now, but the fact they have failed to act sooner, has in no small way, led to the events of yesterday.
The fans must also take responsibility. How sycophantic and ridiculous does the standing ovation Ben recieved feel now? Will the sign writer who wrote, “we admire what you have overcome” burn their sign? The undulating support on 6peagle last night was sickening, ‘get of his back’, ‘its the medias fault’….sheesh.
Apparently Ben smiled through his arrest last night, and asked the police to wait so the “West Australian” could get a decent photo of him. Maybe this is a cry for help. Maybe he has had enough of himself. He needs some tough love.
One of the many issues for the West Coast is the line from their song which talks about ‘the men from the east’. It embodies something about their culture which is a ‘them and us’ mentality. WA is a state of pioneers, and rumours of secession. We have not trusted those from the East. Unfortunately the WC Eagles are seen as being part of the ‘us’ and thus immune from scrutiny.
Those of us who dont support them, are constantly suprised by the depth of denial that emmenates from the WC management, the media and their fans. They are the worst behaved sporting club in Australia…bar none.
The lack of media and fans scrutiny of the club have led in some small way to Ben’s demise, and again, I wish him all the best.