I have had a pretty rough week in some ways.
Been a little down, feeling under some sense of oppression.
There are days when you just don’t feel like you normally do.

But thank goodness for God’s wisdom. 7 days.

Church this morning was so encouraging, and at the same time challenging.
Steve Mc Kinnon from Tear Fund came and we celebrated the ‘Survive Past Five’ Micah challenge. (Micah Challenge)

Steve spoke about how flowing out of your love for God will come mercy and justice for the poor. He gave a challenge to protest injustice. (Mic 6.8)
It was profound, and delivered in Steve’s measured style.

Afterwards we celebrated how many children are now surviving past the age of five. Things are getting better.

I have hope for the future.
I see Christians like lights, shining in the darkness all over the place.
Yes, there are awful things happening, but I see a generation rising up to take their place, being salt and light.

(Here is part of what Steve Mc Kinnon shared in his own words)
“The poor you’ll always have with you”. This is taken straight out of Deut 15: 11. Where in Deut 15:4 God says that if you obey the law- (so the year of Jubilee, the gleaning, the structural laws I’ve set up there should be no poor amongst you: but if you don’t obey; there will always be the poor. What Jesus is saying is a back handed slap to Israel’s disobedience of the law & of himself. Jesus is prophesying against structural, economic and social injustice.

So Jesus is not resigning himself & saying, “Don’t worry about the poor you just carry on self centred life”. The poor were a very high priority for Jesus. In actual fact Jean Vanier believes Jesus is saying, “You won’t have me much longer but when I go I’ll leave the poor in my place & how you treat them is how you treat me.
So the very text used to justify why Christians shouldn’t care for the poor seems to be one of the texts that should motivate us to care for the poor. (CB Samuels quote)
(Steve Mc Kinnon)

Keppler Bradley plays probably the best game of his career last week, his reward?
Named as emergency.

Emg: Kepler Bradley, Nick Suban, Antoni Grover
In: Garrick Ibbotson, Alex Silvagni

Grover plays well for his WAFL side, his reward, emergency…Suban, one of our best, emergency.

The Dockers have unbelievable depth at the moment.
Would not want to be Schammer at the moment….

This is a video I made up for the Pastors Conference.
I used some of Alex Huggetts excellent photos of Perth.

You can download it here, it would be great to know how you use it.
Download

Here is a video a friend of mine has made, from Crossover Australia.
It is a great website with some stimulating posts and useful resources.
No doubt, serial Facebook Tart Wayne Field will also be featured shortly.

Crossover

That game against the Lions proved one thing, this team is different, and it knows how to win.
In years gone by, even if we dominated a game, like we did against Brisbane, if a side had come back, chances are we would have capitulated and lost.

We didn’t. The young exuberance and blatant confidence of the team shone through. These young players are loving the structures, the experience and skill of the older players, and the winning.

Fremantle are the real deal.
I reckon we are going to smash the Pies, and after that, the games we have actually get a little easier.

Wow.

Something that is revving me up at the moment is that this generation of young people coming up are really interested and focused on caring for the less fortunate.

Many of them are spoilt brats, and have been given everything they could ever want.
But for many of them, instead of turning them into consumers…it has meant they are actually bored early by things.

Many of the YP both in our church and on the periphery are more interested in helping out less fortunate people, in a whole raft of ways, instead of just going after the latest thrill.

This is a good time to foster their love for others and for the church to be a place in society where we are known for how we help those less fortunate than ourselves, just as the early church was.

Well a few months in and my Mac Book Pro 13″ has exceeded all my expectations.
I have become what I used to mock, a Apple Evangelist.

Everything just works.
No annoying popups, no asking me if I am really sure I want to do something.

I have come to understand that the basic difference between Mac and PC is that in the PC world, they design the computer around themselves. It is really about them as a company, not you.

The Mac philosophy is that it is about the end user, and what they want.
Truly, until you start to use one, you don’t realise how hard PC makes everything.
Even peripherals that are designed for PC, I have found, work better on my Mac.
Everything syncs up, everything works.

I recently got Macs version of Office, Iwork. The extraordinary thing about it, apart from the fact that it is intiutive and so much better than office, is that it is compatible with Office! If someone sends me a Word, Excel or Powerpoint document, it seamlessly imports them, and then exports them! It actually makes working with documents someone sends me with more ease than a’native’ machine! Incredible.

As well as that, the design and feel of it is just so nice.
I recently was given a ‘Magic Mouse’ for it, and that too is just so nice to use.

I aint ever going back baby!!!!!