It was only this week that I wrote that Freo Members should give Lyon a go, and the new game plan, while ugly, was effective. Here

This might be the quickest turnaround ever, but maybe I was wrong.

Lyon’s greatest strength, his stubborness and single mindedness, might also be his and therefore the teams, weakness.

I have admired that it has taken him such a short time to turn Freo into the team he wishes them to be. Whatever you think of his game plan, they are trying to implement it., and have done a reasonable job of it so far.

But the weekends game against Hawthorn proved that Ross needs to have a long hard look at the players available to him, and adapt. Its one thing to strangle the life out of a team, but you still have to kick more goals than them.

I am no football expert….and that is pretty obvious. But it seems to me that unless you kick more goals than the other side, you lose. And at the moment we are robbing Peter to pay Paul….by putting our two best forwards, Pavlich and Ballyntyne, in the midfield rather than close enough to the big sticks.

As an adjunct to this article, how about the resilience of the average Freo member, and their good humour. We stick with our team, through the jibes about our trophy cabinet, the arrogance and smugness of the team down the road…all the time embracing the Purple.

Ross Lyon will come and go…that is for sure. There is no point being too frustrated with him. Time will tell if he and the team can achieve the success it craves. At the moment, the jury is out. But footy is like that. And unlike some….I support the team through thick and thin.

“It has taken me 43 years to confess that I have been embarrassed by some of God’s actions.

In my arrogance, I believed I could make Him more attractive or palatable if I covered up some of His actions.

So I neglected speaking on certain passages, or I would rush through certain statements God made in order to get to the ones I was comfortable with, the ones I knew others would like.

I am just now seeing the ugliness of my actions.

Like the nervous kid who tries to keep his friends from seeing his drunken father, I have tried to hide God at times.

Who do I think I am?

The truth is, God is perfect and right in all that He does. I am a fool for thinking otherwise. He does not need nor want me to cover for Him. There’s nothing to be covered. Everything about Him and all He does is perfect.”

(Francis Chan)

The Dockers of years gone by had their biggest success in 2006. For those who remember, they made the preliminary final that year, only to be pipped by the Swans during the last quarter, played in Sydney. Coach Chris Connolly had the team playing a exciting and vibrant game with lots of quick movement.
But during that game the Swans had perfected the art of slowing a game down, and on the turnover, scoring.

Fast forward to this season under Ross Lyon and the fan is confronted with a far different team. If you had said to any Fremantle Member that they would be 5 wins, 2 losses, at this stage of the season, most would take it. The Dockers are equal fourth on the ladder with a number of other teams and only one win away from the top group. But they way Fremantle has been winning has left many of the fans flat. They are used to fast flowing, exciting football. Unpredictable football. Now the forwards are shutting down the defense of the opposition, keeping it in the forward fifty. At times it is ugly football, contested and almost rugby like. But they do find themselves winning.

Perhaps its time for the member to have a rethink. Do they want to win or not? Troy Cook, former Docker and Sydney player, suggested as much when he commented that this 2012 Dockers side reminded him of the side he left, the Swans, in 2005. Maybe success will come as the Dockers replicate the ugly footy that saw the Swans take them to back to back grand finals in 2005 and 2006.

Here is a blog from a friend presently pastoring in Wagin, Ben, but soon to head out to Africa.
Check it out!

What a talented violinist. Positive, fun and joyful.
Love it!

Preached on this Church on Sunday night at our ‘Hub’ evening congregation….

What an amazing Church. No rebuke from Jesus, just gentle encouragement that the Lord is coming…and to keep going. Which they have, even 2000 years ago there is still a church there.

But Polycarp suffered for his faith.He was an early Christian leader in Smyrna who refused to acknowledge ‘Caeser is Lord’ and was thus charged with atheism, and eventually killed for his faith.

“He was escorted to the local proconsul, Statius Quadratus, who interrogated him in front of a crowd of curious onlookers. Polycarp seemed unfazed by the interrogation; he carried on a witty dialogue with Quadratus until Quadratus lost his temper and threatened Polycarp: he’d be thrown to wild beasts, he’d be burned at the stake, and so on. Polycarp just told Quadratus that while the proconsul’s fire lasts but a little while, the fires of judgment (“reserved for the ungodly,” he slyly added) cannot be quenched. Polycarp concluded, “But why do you delay? Come, do what you will.”

Soldiers then grabbed him to nail him to a stake, but Polycarp stopped them: “Leave me as I am. For he who grants me to endure the fire will enable me also to remain on the pyre unmoved, without the security you desire from nails.” He prayed aloud, the fire was lit, and his flesh was consumed. The chronicler of this martyrdom said it was “not as burning flesh but as bread baking or as gold and silver refined in a furnace.”

The account concluded by saying that Polycarp’s death was remembered by “everyone”—”he is even spoken of by the heathen in every place.”  (Source)

You can listen to my message here

Love this from Driscoll. Speaking on this very topic…Ephesians and the Holy Spirit, at Inglewood Community Church this Sunday