It has been a while since I have posted anything Docker related. Following the extraordinary Derby on the weekend, it seems a good time.

As regular readers of this blog will know, my view (for what it is) on Ross Lyon has been one of indifference, antagonism, begrudging acceptance.

Obviously the way he was appointed was wrong, but that is not his fault. I continue to maintain the rage at the administration of the Fremantle Football Club. But that is another story.

Ross Lyon has begun to see his game plan be successfully implemented after a season of oscillating form. The last five weeks have been 5 wins for the Dockers. Four of those wins were lesser teams, but we still won. This weeks game against a West Coast Team needing to move into the top four was the real test. It was a test we passed with flying colours. I sat there and chatted with my wife after the game in stunned surprise. How did we so comprehensively beat that team I asked her. It was not enough to suggest Pavlich stellar form, and 8 goal haul was the answer. Nor could the absence of a truly great Fullback (Darren Glass), be enough for the 60 point margin.

No. It was the gamestyle. I thought all Ross cared about was defense.  You don’t win games unless you kick more goals than the opposition. But what was clear on the weekend as I watched the game up close, was that Ross divides the field into 3 parts. Our defense, led by the magnificent Luke McPharlin, have stymied the opposition, frustrated them so much, that by the time it comes out of there, the midfield find space, and get it into Pav, or Ballyntyne or Son Son, so quickly, their defense is already scrambling.

I am now a believer in Ross Lyon. I reckon he is an intelligent, contemporary and focused. Scarily so. Almost psychotic.

The other day me and a good mate went to Jarrahdale to get some wood for our pot belly fires. He had his Navarra and I had the Zook. You don’t need a 4WD but it helps a lot if you don’t want to be lugging wood over the forest.

Apart from being a great day out, it was also a cheap way to get a tonne of wood. You pay $15 at the Jarrahdale General Store and are on your way. There is loads of wood lying around out there, but you need a chainsaw.Next time I am going to get a lot more kindling!

I recently downloaded this excellent app/program for my MacBook.

It allows you to listen to virtually any music you want, as long as you have a net connection, for free. They put ads in every 4-5 songs, but that is a small price to pay. Another nice feature is the ‘new’ music. It allows you to see what is current, what people are listening to. Another good feature that I like is that based on your listening habits, it suggests artists you may like.

There is a paid version which allows you to store offline the music you want, and has no ads.

In my rigid church upbringing, to raise your hands meant one thing…..you had ‘gone charismatic’. One church I attended briefly had a strictly no hands raised policy. In fact repeat offenders could expect an elder to sit next to them during worship. I am not joking, even though its funny to think about it now.

I remember the first time I felt compelled to raise my hands in worship. It was at the altar call song at a Franklin Graham crusade here in Perth. As I watched someone I had prayed for go forward to accept Jesus for the first time I was overcome with joy and had to express it. Wow.

The Gnostics amongst us would have us believe the body is somehow evil, while the spirit is good. That is patently untrue. Our body is given to us as a good thing by God…to use for good things. Let us not fall for that lie.

The picture below shows a Victorian farmer raising his hands in celebration after a dry spell.

It is a natural thing to do when we are joyful, excited or celebrating, a very human thing. Those emotions are all very human, and part of our worship to God.

Here is some scriptures to mess with the minds of those who are still struggling.

“So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands” (Psalm 63:4).

“To you, O LORD, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary” (Psalm 28:1).

“Every day I call upon you, O LORD; I spread out my hands to you” (Psalm 88:9).

“I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes” (Psalm 119:48).

“Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD!” (Psalm 134:2).

“O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you! Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!” (Psalm 141:1-2).

“I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land” (Psalm 143:6).

“Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court, and he stood on it. Then he knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven” (2 Chronicles 6:12-13).

“And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the LORD my God” (Ezra 9:5).

“And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, ‘Amen, Amen,’ lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground” (Nehemiah 8:6).

“Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven” (Lamentations 3:41).

“I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling” (1 Timothy 2:8).

Here is the message I gave on Sunday.

A very interesting couple!

I used some material from Lifechurch.tv, but as you can hear, its my own message.

Listen

The wonder of a beautiful sunset. Different each day.

I was talking to my friend who is a graphic artist. He entered into his uni course full of enthusiasm for having a job creating wonderful art. My friend ended up in his first job arranging the car photos in an auto trader style advertisement. Week after week…..drudgery.

Is there any wonder that there is so much music, literature…art….in the world.

Our God is a wonderfully creative God. He has made us to be creative, to have that wonder of discovery, and creation…till the day we shuffle off. When we deny that, when we settle for the mundane, the boring. When we think we have nothing creative to offer, something in our soul dies.

What creative pursuit can I enter into today? Do I worry it wont be acceptable to others? If you saw my dancing, you would agree. But not every aspect of my life is as uncoordinated as that!

Some of the ways I amuse myself are cooking, video making, graphic design. None of those endeavors are going to win me any awards. But at my best I like to think some of God’s creativity is reflected in mine. I am sure the same is true of everyone.

How many sermons have I preached? I would say…. a lot.

I have spoken for over 20 years. Some of them have been doozies, some have caused me to fall asleep…or perhaps more accurately be dissapointed.

It still amazes me at times that people will actually come, and listen, to what I may have to say. But then, it is a spiritual discipline, and really, people are coming hoping that they will hear God’s voice, not mine. That is when preaching is at its best, when the preacher, the congregation and the Holy Spirit are having a beautiful dance together. If only in our hearts and minds….

It is great to hear someone come back from a conference having heard from God. But as a preacher who preaches week in week out, I know there is a far weightier discipline for the local church Pastor. He basically preaches to the same people, week in, week out. Not every message can be one where you ‘hit it out the park’. A conference speaker brings their best message, their best stories, their keenest insight.

Its why I am determined to ‘change it up’ every twelve months or so. I consider my preaching, and seek to bring a different dimension, a different method, a different insight. I don’t want to be bored, and I certainly don’t want the people to be bored. It is the most important message in the  world, and to be boring is a terrible injustice to God’s word.

At Inglewood Church we are doing a monthly series on marriage. So in order to challenge myself I spoke on a confronting marriage from the bible, Jezebel and Ahab. What a couple! The sort of couple who would bring many ‘awkward’ moments to any dinner party with friends. But it went well, and I was challenged personally. Surely that is when you know your preaching is the best, when you feel it yourself.