We had a massive day at Inglewood Community Church today.

Big crowd in for the Kids Celebration Service. Lots and lots of visitors and extended family.

The kids from Jets Senior (upper primary) were inspirational as they discussed raising awareness and finance for poverty. Their great idea was for each of the Pastors to put a ‘bounty’ on their hair.

The price for our embarrassment was  $1000 each.

As it turned out we raised $4500, but Eliot only got to $950 so he was very fortunate! The rest of….not so much. Quentin in particular (our Children’s Pastor) was the most keenly bid…most people wanted his hair off.

Here is how it worked out.

Thats James on the left, youth pastor, sans hair, myself in the middle with coloured hair and beard, and Quentin, childrens pastor, also follicly challenged.

The good news though is that $4500 was raised for Elim kids, Kiva and Free to be kids At the end of the day the lessons learnt for future generations to take hold of are immense, and the short term goal of helping was also achieved.

I bought this car about six or seven years ago.
The owner shafted me big time. He had driven it hard and cooked the motor. They do run a little hot the Vitaras, especially with their small 1.6l motor needing to work pretty hard.
I did not check it out enough, some of the hoses had obviously been cooked, and after three months I discovered the head was gone.
The mechanic gave me the bad news.
We replaced the motor with one out of a Baleano (exactly the same motor) which had done about 30 thou. I saw the car, it was wrecked, and saw the speedo.
Since then I replaced the radiator and a couple of other parts such as alternator and starter motor, and have had years of relative free and happy motoring.

We have taken the Suzuki many places, Cervantes, Jurien Bay, Bremer Bay, Denmark, Albany….Wherever I could find a beach to drive on, I did. The tyres were over oversize, especially for such a light car. This meant that I replaced the front ones, and they hardly look worn after more than 30 thousand K’s.

. It was the first car we bought after Clem was born, he was about 3. Ruby came shortly after. They have really only known me driving that car, its dads car. Clem put a dent on the roof when he was four, climbing over it, Ruby and I sang along to songs while we were driving along….and as a family we used it to tow our little trailer down to Bremer Bay…But it’s gone now, sold to a man with his own daughter, for far less than I paid for it. Time to buy something else.

Ruby on the 'Vitardis'

This has to be one of the best songs written about marriage….ever.

Yes ever….
In it Brooke Fraser gently and skillfully brings in the reality of being married to one person…
Plenty of people present a beautiful picture of marriage, but reality is…if we are all frank, it is not always easy. Some days are like paradise, some days are like something else.
Of course, the internet is not the place to broadcast all that information….
But if you love your wife, like I love mine, and am determined to work together to put out any fires, you might relate to this song.

“Better or worse
But what else can we do?
And better or worse
I am tethered to you
If it’s not either of us
Tell me who are we fooling?

I love the art of biting my tongue
I’m tired of trying to guess what was wrong
Both agreed on where we should go
But not how to get there

We tried and tried to loosen the knots
Thinking once we’re untangled we’ll be better off
But it’s these failures and faults that hold us together”

The largest purchase I have made previously on the Apple App store was Angry Birds.

But the other week I shelled out $25 for ‘Metroview’ Australia. It is a detailed Navigation App which is like a Tom Tom, only 1/4ter the price.

It gives turn by turn navigation with voice prompts. I love how it actually says which street you need to turn into. My wifes purpose built one in her car just says ‘turn right’, not the actual street name. It also is much quicker and more accurate than hers, which I find a little amazing.

Metroview has street numbers, points of interest and appears to have all the latest streets, and the initial price covers you for ongoing updates.

Another really cool feature I use is to plug my Iphone into my car stereo. Metroview allows you play your songs through the stereo and through its inbuilt little widget. When the voice needs to tell you something, the music fades in and out. The same principle applies when someone calls you.

For me, it was better to spend $25 on this app than buying a separate Navigation device. Great value.

(It also has speed alert, which can be handy since there is often times you just don’t know what the speed limit is!) App store

(I was not in any way compensated for this review, I just liked the product)

Took the kids and Clems best mate to the ‘Luminarium’ in Forrest Place in the heart of the CBD (Perth)

This is a ‘ large inflatable structure, made up of different coloured chambers that are lit by the sun.” You walk through it, enjoy the sights, colours, shades and music. Its free for the next week to visit and the kids loved it.

Here are some pictures….

A new post is up under My Ministry Story, you can check it out here

Many of my facebook statuses are about food. Every now and then someone makes a comment about that. Stirring me up for talking about food so much.I reckon they are jealous….

But seriously, lets talk about food.

In our beautiful country we have some of the best produce and skillful growers, and they make beautiful food. Their creativity is world class as is the produce.

When we visited Cairns we went down to the markets and picked out about 6 different and strange fruits. We then went back to our motel, had a BBQ and while sitting around the pool we sampled them all with our children. It was a beautiful experience the kids still talk about.

As those who know me personally will know, my wife is a superb cook. She teaches cooking, has studied both formally and informally and sets very high standards for herself and me. When I cook for the family, sometimes twice a week, I know I need to get it up to a certain standard. That has been fun for me actually, and I reckon I cook steak better than her! (But she wouldn’t agree).

My point is though that we have such beautiful opportunities to enjoy the good things God has given us, and we should! I must admit that those people who prefer standard food, every day, annoy me sometimes. Launch out a bit, try something different, you just might enjoy it! While getting the same satisfying reaction from the same foods may be of some benefit, I much prefer trying new flavours and experiences.

When I visited Indonesia I said to my traveling friend Wayne, ‘I am

Some food at a Indonesian home I visited

going to try everything, enjoy everything, and if I get sick, I get sick’. Now Indonesians are not as wealthy as we might be, but they love their food, and enjoy it.

There is balance needed of course. Many in the world don’t have enough. We should do what we can to help them, and I think our family does…to be frank.

So enjoy food, revel in it, God has provided it for you.