I woke up to some disastrous news. Little Creatures Brewery have sold their business to a large Corporation, Lion Nathan. They have stated the recipes wont change and the brewing process will remain. But we all know that is bunkum. Remember when ‘Red Back Beer’ was sold. Seen a Red Back in your bottle shop lately? No. They lost favour (and flavour) with the buying public in the months and years after they sold…out…and have since been ‘exterminated’

Beer in moderation is a pleasure I partake in, and Little Creatures have produced many fine beers, with my favourite being the ‘Bright Ale’, but I will just as happily enjoy their Pale Ale.

I have spent many a happy time down at Freo eating pizza’s (goat my favourite) and enjoying some lovely brew from the tap. Now I can’t help but feel that it is an beginning of the end for the Craft Brewer from Fremantle.

Fortunately there are many alternatives.

Feral Brewery make a number of fine ales.

But perhaps my favourite at the moment is the lovely Hop Rocker Pilsner from Mac Brewery in NZ

Just a brief thought to ponder.

There was a point in the garden when Adam had not yet fallen…but Eve had.  Adam chose to fall for Eve’s charms above obedience to God. And has anything changed? Probably not. Men….worship women, and that is not good. Women, particularly images of women, are used to sell everything from beer to life insurance.

6000 years later (or so) man has not changed much. Women still lead us from obedience and worship of God, to instead, worship them.

This post may be taken in entirely the wrong way. I love my wife…and she loves me. It is not meant to be a woman attacking post. Love, adoration and intimacy, within a marriage context is not only good, its fantastic, a gift from God. But its interesting to think about our fascination with porn and lust…in light of what happened in the garden.

Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have fighting between us, between your shepherds and my shepherds. After all, we’re family. Look around. Isn’t there plenty of land out there? Let’s separate. If you go left, I’ll go right; if you go right, I’ll go left.”

Money…too much of it, can cause conflict in families.

This problem was solved by Abraham being generous. Lot….you choose….take what you want.

Why did Abraham do this, because his value was peace and joy in the family over wealth. He trusted God with the results.

Lot chose the best for himself, and it cost him his family.

Think about this.

God stood outside time and space, in perfect fellowship with Himself…Father Son and Spirit.With no need for anything.

He made a decision (in time?) to create the universe, the world…everything.

As a parent I knew a little of the pain that I might experience if I decided to have children. So many things could happen to them, yet in faith we pressed ahead and decided to have kids. And so far they have brought me so much joy.

But think about God….and all the pain His children (us) have caused Him. And He knew that! He knew it would cost Him His only Son. But He decided to create us anyway, to give us an opportunity to exist. He has faith in this world, incredible optimism. He made it, and He made us.

That is generosity personified. God.

I had the following article published at The Roar

In recent months many of the articles posted on the popular Herald Sun Footy Website have gone behind a pay-wall. While there is a two month trial, in most peoples minds this means we are going to have to start paying if we want to view Footy Articles written by the influential writers down at the Herald.

This is a relatively new phenomenon in the electronic age where media owners are seeking to maximise their product for profit. The news, in this case sports news, is seen as a product delivered by journalists to us the consumers.

In my view, this is the beginning of the end for the influence of the Herald Sun for a few compelling reasons. While at present the average punter enjoys the diverse and informative journalism provided by the Footy writers down at the Sun, it is quite a new concept to ask them to pay for it, particularly online. For the price of a hard copy most Melbournians will gladly pick up a paper for all it offers. But now they are being asked to cough up their hard earned for online versions. While previously a link on Twitter, Facebook or via email might prompt you to go and read the article, when faced with a pay-wall, I can see the interest waning rather quickly. I know for myself I have simply stopped looking.

As someone not based in Melbourne, I have enjoyed reading the comprehensive coverage of AFL that the Herald Sun provided. No more.

Is there a new generation of Footy followers coming through who will pay? I doubt it. In fact I think the Y-generation is even less likely to pay for something online. The culture of the Internet is that everything is free, unless its being delivered to your front door via Australia Post.

While there may be a short term game for The Herald Sun, I think the long term affects on their influence are going to be profound as more and more people swap a hard copy of footy news for an electronic one on their laptop, tablet and phone.

After thinking about this article, I had a further thought. Because the Herald Sun have started putting their wants above the consumers, the end result will be less consumers.

In the Christian life, there is often a testing of your ‘call’.

Many ministers and missionaries will talk of the ‘call of God’ on your their lives. It is certainly true that there is a call to ministry. But let us not think that this call is just for those doing ministry full or part time. God’s call is for everyone of us.

There are times that call is tested.

People: Sometimes there are people in our lives who are argumentative, painful and just plain antagonistic to our faith. With the rise of social media, we Christians can find ourselves caught up in all sorts of arguments and slinging matches. Aggressive atheism can distract us from our main call…loving God..loving people. And it is not just those outside of the Church. Church people can be ‘well intentioned dragons’. Back handed compliments, disagreements over small issues, gossip and hypocrisy in other believers can distract us from our call.

Circumstances: Our lives get busy, we forsake the gathering of ourselves together (in other words we stop going to church or small group) This takes our spiritual energy and gets us off our call. Our children become very important to us, perhaps too important sometimes.  Work takes precedence over our call, lovely distractions take precedence over our call…life takes precedence over our call.

Institutions: The Church can be its own worse enemy as well. Making us too busy with keeping the organisation going that we forget it is a organism. Relationships are what is most important to our call. Loving God, loving people.

Spiritual Rhythm: Before my feet touch the floor, I will think of you Jesus. This has been a bit of a focus for me. If my spiritual rhythm  is off, then the rest of my life is out of centre as well. Anger, sin, slothfulness, ill focus.