Beautiful day…..

Some pleasant suprises at church with two folk joining Eliot for worship….and they were great…both of them….cant say much more…but really encouraging….

There was a real sense of the presence of God this morning during church, and another good crowd in this week as well……which is always encouraging.

I spoke on fasting, which was good, got a friend to do a testimony about his own experiences, and it fitted in really well….in fact the whole service ‘flowed’ in that mysterious way that says to me that God has something to say…and we are just the passengers. It was good to be there.

This afternoon I took the kids down to City Beach to walk the dog, have some overpriced fish and chips, and let my son ride his bank down the steep grass walls of the oval there, going way to fast on his bike….he is such a boy.

Tommorow I have peer group, and I will be picking up my wife late at night.

Wife away…what to do….Ruby provided the answers….lets go swimming dad!!!
Great idea daughter of mine….

Off to Mc Donalds for a great start to the day…well for the kids anyway, I had a Mc Cappucino which was passable….

Then to Fremantle Aquatic Centre….or whatever it is called….Son of mine taking to the water like the fish he is, daughter being her normal fun loving stuff…but approaching the slides with a little bit more timidity that son…..

Then to the Freo Markets, Freo icecream store and then to the Freo Bakehouse for some excellent Italian bread……

Great day, great suggestion….beautiful coffee at home….

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.

Source

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.

The irony, of course, is that by jumping in last, they’re condemning themselves to more mediocrity.

Seth Godin