For those of you who read the West, and who turn to the back of the paper first, like me, you will know the name Steve Butler. For those of you who are Weagles followers, you will like him.

For those of you who are a member of the Purple Army, you will know that Steve’s favourite activity is sinking the boots into Freo. Now I would not suggest he is biased, but if someone did suggest that, I wouldn’t be arguing with them.
Which brings me to the point of my post. Steve B has tipped Freo to down the Blues this week.
Is this part of his cunning plan to unsettle the club? Or is he just trying to redeem himself after his woeful tipping perfomance last week?

Either way, we dont need your support Steve, in fact we dont want it. Go back to playing ER’s AFL for playstation, and pretending Sampi marked that goal in the dying minutes of the 2005 Grand Final.

During our first move, from our home of 5 years to the rental, we got rid of a lot of stuff. About three trailer loads actually. I’m not exagerating. Three trips up Red Hill with a fully loaded heavy trailer, being towed by my 1.6 litre Vitara.
My son wanted to know what the ‘funny smell is daddy?”.
I told him the engine and gearbox were not happy about working so hard.

Well this move we had a few things surplus to our needs. Some we managed to give to a good home, another couple, no one wanted, which was fair enough considering their condition. Namely a desk with no drawers and a very wobbly side. As well a baby’s high chair which had seen much better days. In fact I had got some gaffa tape onto the ripped chair, and my children (both of them) had stuffed weeties, vegemite toast and other such gourmet delights down the side of the seat.

Anyways, there was only these two things so I did what most residents tend to do, I stuck them on the verge.

They had been there for about 24 hours, and I was contemplating taking them up Red Hill when a marvellous thing happened. I came back from taking the kids down the park and they were gone. Mysteriously, wonderfully, conveniently gone.

Somewhere in suburbia someone is sitting at a desk which is about to topple over while their child is discovering 6 year old fruit toast ends.

Deary deary me, anyone know a good marriage counsellor?

James writes this on his blog,

“Even though our two month old daughter refuses to sleep without my wife holding her, and my two year son won’t even attempt to sleep without his pacifier, my wife still refuses to take my advice about how to fix these problems before they start to bring even more stress into our marriage.After begging and pleading with my wife (because I adore and love her dearly) to stop spoiling our children and ignoring my feelings, I’ve decided enough is enough.So I went on strike — and moved to the roof of our home.This is my last-ditch effort!”
LINK

9 O God, we meditate on your unfailing love
as we worship in your Temple.
10 As your name deserves, O God,
you will be praised to the ends of the earth.
Your strong right hand is filled with victory.

I am continuing my series on “What Jesus said that changed the world”.
This verse from Luke 19.40, “He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”

A great verse as we celebrate Palm Sunday.
For His name sake, and His glory, let Him be praised to the ends of the earth.

So I drop my son off at School today, and hope to slip in the back quietly. No such luck. His Eagles supporting teacher makes sure she mentions the results from the weekend to him, and me, just in case we missed it.

Sigh, sigh sigh.

Its hard being a real supporter, and not a bandwagon hopping fairweather Weagles supporting one.
I have been to every game bar one or two for the last 7 or 8 years, I have survived the Drum years, leave me alone. I’ll get over it.

Roll on Carlton.

Eliot and the band did a fantastic rendition of Coldplays song, “Talk” on Sunday. I was suprised that a couple of musicians in the band dont like Coldplay. Who doesn’t like Coldplay? They thought it was repetitive and that the band lacked credibility.
I encouraged them to look at the song itself, and judge that on its merits, apart from the band.

Oh brother I can’t, I can’t get through I’ve been trying hard to reach you,
cause I don’t know what to do Oh brother I can’t believe it’s true I’m so scared
about the future and I wanna talk to you Oh I wanna talk to you
Are you lost or incomplete? Do you feel like a puzzle, you can’t find your
missing piece? Tell me how do you feel? Well I feel like they’re talking in a
language I don’t speak And they’re talking it to me
(Selection from song)

It was a good finish to my message on loving others, having a distinct love.
One of the things we fail to do as humans is address conflict well. Conflict comes in may shapes, be it unsaid statements, little gripes, looks of despair or even disgust.
At some point we need to adress these things, otherwise they fester and eat us up.
What does this have to do with love?
Truly loving action is saying what needs to be said quickly, keeping short accounts. Being honest and humble with each other.

One key for me is to think it through carefully first, think about what you are going to say, how you are going to say, even the facial expression and body language you are going to use.
How is what you say going to communicate love and truth? The two are not mutually exclusive, and at the end of the day, love and the relationship with people is more important.

We have moved into our new house!
After having bought it just before Christmas, it seems strange now to have finally moved in.

The owners have moved out,
the floors have been polished, and finally the bathroom is complete.
A HUGE HUGE thank you to Jennifer, Quentin, Jeff, Jason, Rowan, Holly, Nat, Scott and Sandra (the doughnuts were great!) for all the wonderful help moving in.

The computer and study is set up, most important room in the house for me, and the kids room looks fantastic.

I am walking to church tommorow!! Walking!!!!!

Praise God for His excellent kindness and provision to us. THANKS GOD!!