More good news on the Freo front with Robert ‘the driller” Haddrill ready to go for next season.
His stability, mobility and durability were sorely missed last year in the backline.

Along with Parker, Grover and the suprise packet of Scotty Thornton, ours must surely be one of the quickest and most dynamic defence units running around. Throw in the evervescent Roger Hayden, and expect the new rule changes to favour us. I am especially thinking of the one about kick outs being able to be executed without waiting for the umpire. Last year we were first in the league for goals kicked from opposition points, so expect that trend to continue.

“without Christ you have a holiday. With Christ, you have a Holy Day”

We are really looking forward to Christmas Day in our Church. It is always a great way to start the Christmas day. I know a lot of Churches dont have a Christmas Day service, and thats cool. I wonder what they will do this year with Christmas being on a Sunday?
Anyways, for me, I love it, its always fun. If your looking for somewhere to kick the day off right, your welcome at Bedford Baptist Church

Phil Baker has a link to a great article by Rob Bell. The article is basically a quote of one of the passages from Rob’s book, Velvet Elvis.

Here is another quote from my reading.
“I realize this is not groundbreaking news, but when we get desperate and realize we cannot keep living this way, then we have to change. As I let all this come spewing forth the first time in my therapist’s office, he interrupted me. I was making lists of all the people I was working to keep happy. He said it was clear that there were significant numbers of people I was working to please and that my issue was a simple one.
I was anticipating something quite profound as I got out my pen.
He said this: “Sin.”
And then he said, in what has become a pivotal moment in my journey, “Your job is the relentless pursuit of who God has made you to be. And anything else you do is sin and you need to repent of it.”
The relentless pursuit of who God made me to be.
I started identifying how much of my life was about making sure the right people were pleased with me. And as this became more and more clear, I realized how less and less pleased I was with myself. I’d become so heavily oriented around the expectations of others that I was becoming more and more like them and less and less the person God made me to be”

It reminds me of something the apostle said, “we are here to please God, not please people”.
and Hebrews 13.6 inspires me along similar lines.

Well, here we are in Ballajura.

I have just gone through the last inspection, making sure everything works, and Melinda and I and the kids said our last good byes to our beautiful home in Ellenbrook.

Clem had a last feast on mulberries, and we all prayed and thanked God.

I have just got my internet connection back on line, and recieved a message saying my mailbox in 96% full.

This feels homely here, but not like home. we have a lot of stuff still in boxes, and wont unpack most of it. 5 months is not a long time. Cant wait to move into our real house.
Thanks for all your prayers.

We had the biggest crowd ever, the sausage sizzle people ran out of sauce, we served over 400 cups of cordial to thirsty kids,

The sound check was done in record time, the stage was stable,

everyone was excited…..

After two carols and one item, the rain come down, and it was too hard to ignore it!

This is Perth Australia for goodness sake, where has summer gone??
Ministry can sometimes be dissapointing, but that is the risk of leading. Last night all the fantastic and joyful people from my church led well.
They felt the joy, and maybe dissapointment of ministry.
Don’t stress, God knows best!!!
I thought we all showed grace, patience and joy in the midst of some trying circumstances.
And I think it was a wonderful witness to the people watching,

SO WELL DONE!!
And roll on next years carols.

I am a Pizza lover. In a former life I used to manage a Dial a Dino’s (remember them, bought out by Dominoes).

At home, most Thursdays, I make the family Pizza. Not any old pizza with a store bought base. I make the lot from scratch. I make the dough, I proof it, I roll it out to size, depending on how thick I want it. Then I crush fresh tomatoes and herbs. My local deli supplies me with some Italian sausage and bacon, which I cook in the fry pan before putting on the pizza. The cheese I use is some good Mozarella.
My wife bought me a pizza stone, which is a round device you put in the oven to heat up, then cook your pizza on it. This gets properly floured and the pizza comes out looking better, and tasting much better than any cheap Dominos one.

Today I blew it. I went to Coles and in a fit of madness bought a Mc Cains frozen pizza on special. I ate it, and now I feel so dissapointed.
How can a mass produced product like that compete with my home ‘built with love’ special, it cant.
Now the Mc Cain special is sitting in my stomach, like some conjealed mess.

Preparing for my message in two weeks time on leaving a legacy. I am exploring the life of Elijah and how lessons from his life help us to be overcomers.

I am particularly interested in how he left a legacy with Elisha to carry on the good work. It goes to the heart of something I am passionate about, the legacy we leave our kids. And I am not talking about finances, although that may be part of it. I am talking about what we will impart to them, what our lives will say to them. How who we are as people will give them strength, and help them lead fulfilling lives.

Looking through some multi media resources I have just found a great mini presentation on what it means to be a father, excellent! I love it when a plac comes together.