What's On TV?

Different kind of house - we're really enjoying House. It is very good indeed. Dr House is a grumpy genius with attitude. Not so much watching TV as sitting in front of the mirror...

Due North

It looks like we have a house to live in from next week, just around the corner from Andrew and Danelle Hamilton. That puts it at the furthest point north in the line of contacts we have made along the greater-Perth coast (with Cottesloe the southern point, and a 45 minute drive between the two).

We've been looking at all sorts of house possibilities as they've come up - living with families; house-sitting; renting furnished, semi-furnished or unfurnished units; in a variety of locations. In other words, the type of house really didn't matter; what mattered was that it felt right.

The first time we went up to see Hamo and Danelle, we heard that Danelle's parents would be house-sitting a new-build around the corner (for owners who weren't ready to move in yet) while they had a place of their own built elsewhere...Jo came away thinking, what a shame it is taken. Yesterday we were back up there again, and it transpired that Danelle's parents weren't house-sitting after all - her dad (a retired minister) had accepted a short-term post somewhere instead...so the house might be available. Hamo drove me round there; we met the owner; and things came together. The owners - a farmer and his wife - recently sold their farm and had this place built so they could join the Hamilton's Upsteam community; so I guess they're on a similar faith-adventure to us. But, they can't move until after Christmas, and didn't want the house to stand empty.

That felt like a right situation. We'll move next week. The house is unfurnished, but that doesn't seem to be an issue; folk will lend us the various things we will need.

Between now and then, there's the Forge conference (Saturday-Tuesday) to keep us busy. Jo and I are doing a session together on Monday, and I'm doing a joint-session with Alan Hirsch on Sunday. We'll meet Al for the first time this Friday - I'm looking forward to it...

Scuba-Do

I took this photo, and it made me think of Dan. I don't know why, other than it might appeal to him. Anyway, here it is - for Dan.

Lazy Days

Everyone needs a day of rest. Today was one of those for us. After a busy run, we didn't leave the house all day. In the afternoon, one of the mums we've met at playgroup came over with her little girl - a couple of hours of fun for the kids, and just as enjoyable for the grown-ups.

WordPlay

• Roads and buildings are well-signed around here. Today we drove past a sign for a Senior Citizens Library. Now, we know about book libraries, video libraries, and games libraries. But we wondered why you'd want to take out a pensioner for two weeks...(I imagined a senario a bit like About A Boy)
• There's a road not far from where we're staying called Weaponess Road. I know that goodness means possessing the quality of being good, and that faithfulness means possessing the quality of being faithful. So, does weaponess mean possessing the quality of a weapon?
• Someone challenged me over lunch on Sunday to come up with a grammatically correct sentence in which the word <and> appears five times in a row. It's a clever challenge, so I'll throw it out here...

Oasis

Two oasis experiences over the past couple of days...

...we moved to the Parry house this afternoon, where we will be staying for a week. (I took the photo of Liz P with our children when we had lunch with her and Trevor recently; the pool is in their garden.) It feels great to have a space of our own, albeit only for seven days - an oasis. Although it is a lovely house, it isn't one of those places where you worry what the kids might touch; this is a place where we will be able to relax - not least in the bath, having only had access to showers since we arrived in Australia (S and N being pretty much shower-phobic).

The other: we spent Saturday night at the home of Kai Seen and Wendy Yapp. Wendy used to baby-sit me and my brother and sister when we were kids; I don't think she and I have seen each other in 25 years...they had a get-together of various people involved in various ministries across the city, and invited us along. To be honest - despite warm welcomes from various people in Glasgow and in Cottesloe - we haven't felt as "at home" in a worship/fellowship context as we did on Saturday night since we left Sheffield towards the end of August. It was a real oasis experience. And we met several folk who were keen to meet up with us again (including a Danish girl here with YWAM who came from Arhus and knew some of our Danish friends in TOM), so it was a great networking-time too.

Tomorrow we're off to spend the afternoon with Hamo and his family again. But for now - now the children are asleep - a relaxing evening beckons...

Whale Of A Time

Today we went whale watching. Whale-watching's right up there with swimming with dolphins in the List of Things You Ought To Do Before You Die. I have to say, it's never been a burning ambition of mine, but, given that we're living right on the Indian Ocean at the time of year when the humpback whales are migrating back south to their feeding grounds (having swam north to give birth to their young) it seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up on...
...now, I'm sure you're familiar with amazing footage of whales rising vertically up out of the ocean, or smashing their tail fluke against the waves: well, it wasn't quite like that!

Noah slept through the whole trip, which meant that he saw marginally less than the rest of us. Susie felt pretty sea-sick - the sea was choppy - but managed not to vomit in the bag provided to every passenger just-in-case. Jo and I faired a little better, but those whales were shy today. The water-spout more-or-less in the middle of the photo is about as much as we got to see.

But then - and I hope I'm not just trying to rationalise-away disappointment here - I actually quite like the idea that there are things that God has created that I haven't seen, and won't. At the end of the day, that seems a bigger and healthier perspective to me.

In The Wilderness A Highway

I keep being drawn back to these verses:

A voice of one calling:
"In the desert prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the wilderness
a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all mankind together will see it.
For the mouth of the
Lord has spoken."

A voice says, "Cry out."
And I said, "What shall I cry?"...

Isaiah 40:3-6a

Walkabout

This afternoon we walked through Peppermint Grove - the neighbourhood east of Cottesloe, so named (I guess) because the streets are lined with avenues of Peppermint trees - to the Swan River. We walked along Freshwater Bay to where it meets Mosman Bay; there is a thin, hardly-tidal beach-line, and the water is very shallow and flat, in marked contrast to the ocean side.

We continue to live in that liminal "in-between" space. We genuinely don't know what our situation will be come mid-December. We believe God has led us to this place for these three months, and that this is the next step he has for us having called us to leave Sheffield. Our sense is that there is something He has for us here, in greater Perth, beyond this sabbatical: but we don't know what that is, or how it might work out in practice. Discussions with various folk have - indirectly - helped to clarify one thing: we are not here to make something happen, but to keep our eyes open for what God might bring about. At one level we feel - genuinely - completely secure with all this, but that doesn't mean that it isn't scary at times...

Today we decided that, given that we aren't here to make something happen, we would make a slight change of direction: while still making lots of time to meet with anyone who wants to meet up with us, we will make more time to do some of the sight-seeing holiday sort of things - to create some great family memories that we can only do here. Top of the list? Whale watching.

As Requested

I was speaking with my sister on the phone yesterday, and she requested a photo of the caravan we are currently staying in. So here it is. We only sleep in it, and the beds are really comfortable.
It pretty much backs onto the deck at the back of the rectory; the church is the other side of the gates on the left hand side of the picture.

Saturday Afternoon, And Evening

One of the things I really enjoy is being able to eat outside - not a wind-swept English picnic or barbeque in the rain, but sitting down at a table outdoors, eating a 'proper' meal in the fresh air. For me, that was a treat of our holiday back in the USA in June, and of our time here. Today we had lunch, and spent the afternoon, with Trevor and Liz Parry. Trevor was, until last year, the senior paediatrician in Western Australia; Liz is a retired secondary school teacher. They are, quite simply, a lot of fun; and we had a great day together.

The Parry's have a holiday house down south, on the Margaret River (good wine country), and we'll be staying there for a break in November.

On a vacant plot just around the corner from their home, there is a lemon tree, covered in fruit. Apparently it is in almost continual fruit, and the various neighbours help themselves, with plenty of lemons to go round. It makes a fantastic lemonade...I guess at some point the plot will be built on, and the tree may or may not survive. But it is a great illustration of fruitfulness: the individual branches are at different stages of the fruiting-cycle, but as an organism the tree is fruitful all year round - and the surrounding community is blessed as a result. [see photo below.]

The Potts arrived home this evening. It's been great to see them again, sitting around the kitchen table with the weekend paper, a bar of Cadbury's milk chocolate, and red wine. But now it is time for bed - in the caravan again. (Everything gets going very early in the mornings round here.)

Lemon Tree

Dream Team

Here's a result: having been in the right time-zone to watch the Ashes live at a reasonable hour, I'm now in a close-enough time-zone to watch the Super Series not-quite-live. For the first time ever, the ICC has (done what every punter in the pub would do if they could and) selected a World XI - and sent the best individual players out against the best Test and One Day International side, Australia, over three ODIs and one 6-day Test.

Two games in, Australia have dominated. In part, as a side they're playing for restored pride having just lost the Ashes; while certain individual team members are playing to secure their future in the side after notably poor performances on tour...

But dream teams almost always fail to deliver their on-paper potential. For one thing, the players aren't used to playing together; their styles have had no time to mesh. For another thing, they're playing for fun, show-casing their talent but lacking the "we have to win" mentality that comes with playing for your own national team in matches that count for international rankings. And in this particular case there appears to be another factor: the selectors have chosen (on the whole) the biggest names in the game, the box-office draws; senior players (on the whole) in their own sides, who have earned their reputations over many years of consistent brilliance...and therefore aren't as fast in the out-field as younger up-and-coming players. In short, this side hasn't performed in the field, making half-hearted stretches towards balls that they would have caught in previous years.

But it has been highly entertaining nonetheless, and the crowd at Melbourne's Telstra Dome have helped create an amazing atmosphere. As long as no-one expects them to be close-run contests, the Super Series looks set to have a happy future.

On The Move Again...

...though only as far as back into the caravan in the rectory back yard. The Potts return from holiday some time tomorrow afternoon/evening.

In the two weeks they have been away, we have walked into estate agents and letting agents; rang up in response to letting ads on the outsides of appartments and in the local newspaper; viewed a flat on the ninth floor [I felt physically sick the whole time the kids were on the balcony, which ruled that out; everyone we've spoken to since agreed, and a number added that it was a rough location they wouldn't recommend] and an unfurnished single-story unit [various people had said, "If you asked around at church, people would probably lend you things" - but, it would have to be literally everything, and then it would all have to go back to the various lenders: far too complicated a life]. We have come up against people wanting a longer let than we are around for (fair enough), despite the fact that their property is empty and 10 weeks income has got to be better than 10 weeks no income (harder to understand). We have followed up people's recollections that former members of the church now in the USA and Northern Australia have houses nearby and were looking for tenants, only to discover that both properties are currently occupied and won't come available until just before we depart. Lots of people have been looking out for possible places we could live, and/or praying that God would release the right place for us, but so far nothing concrete has materialised. It does look like we'll be house-sitting for a couple in the church for a week, in a week-and-a-half's time; and that we might well be able to move in with another couple for several weeks after that.

In the mean time, we're gathering up our things (it is amazing how widely even a few toys can be spread); rationalising our clothes back down from four suitcases to one; and cleaning away all evidence that we were here...

On The Edge

Take the main road running north from here until it literally comes to an end in a pile of sand (about 50 minutes' drive), turn right, and you get to Hamo's place. Andrew, Danelle and their kids live on a block that was only built two years ago, surrounded by blocks being developed/to be developed. On the map, the main road continues north in a dotted line, anticipating the next phase of northern suburb growth.

We spent today hanging out with the Hamiltons. First we headed to the park, a temporary facility awaiting the completion of a shopping centre and further housing; then back to their place for lunch, and an afternoon of chatting over beers/coffee/tea. They are on a similar journey to ours: following God's call out from a secure position leading an established church, to pioneer something new - something on-the-edge-and-beyond of church, as well as the edge and beyond of Perth...So, it is great to network. I sense God wants us to become good friends!

One of the things that they are finding is that you can build a housing estate much quicker than you can build authentic community - something that is obvious enough to state, but, I am sure, much harder to live in.

As always, I had my camera with me. In the park, two things caught my eye. One was a piece of art, a fork sticking out of the ground where the path divided, literally A Fork In The Road (indeed, a fork in the fork in the road). It reminded me of Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken* (Frost is my favourite poet; this is probably his most widely-known work), which spoke to me of Andrew and Danelle's decision, like Frost, to take the path "less travelled by, And that has made all the difference"...

...The other was the wall around one of the play areas. It reminded me of Nehemiah's call to rebuild the broken- and burned-down walls of Jerusalem, with each family taking a stretch of the wall. Again, it spoke to me of Andrew and Danelle, and the part they have been called to in rebuilding the broken church here in Australia.

And because our stories are in some ways similar, the fork and the wall spoke to me of where, and why, we are here too.

*Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Desert Places

Clearing away the remains of our evening meal beckons, but now the kids are in bed I need to sit down for a while before I get round to it, to catch my breath, and gather my thoughts...

Living in a liminal space is hard at times, but rewarding too. Hard when we realise that we'll be back in Sheffield, in January, at the point where Susie's friends will be starting school - the point where Susie would have started school, but won't be. Hard when we're here to weigh whether this is where we are supposed to be for the next season of our lives, and the key people we need to process that with are away on holiday. Hard when we don't know where we'll be living even for this three months, let alone beyond...

Hard and rewarding blur together at points like this morning, when Jo had a cry at play group and in doing so gave permission for the other newly-arrived mums - from England, on the same flight as us; from Melbourne - to open up about being - inevitably [D2] - in the same "wobbly" place at this stage. And to recognise that they could help each other through [to D3]. Not incidentally, one of the God-pictures someone gave us before we came out here was that, though there would be tears for us, flowers would bloom where each tear fell on the desert soil...

And then there are the out-and-out rewards. This afternoon we spent several lovely hours sitting in the back garden of one of our new friends, Amanda, whose welcome to us has been a special gift. Other people came and went the whole time we were there. I took photos of her garden, and portrait shots of her youngest child, and we downloaded them onto her laptop - a gift in return. As well as just being a wonderful, relaxed time, we also bounced around ideas for things we - us and Amanda - can envision pioneering here...Creativity is starting to stir - in thoughts alone this morning, with Jo after lunch, in Amanda's garden this afternoon...things we can't move on until Malcolm and Cheryl return from holiday, but...perhaps God is starting to show each of us why He has brought us to this place.

And that fills me with hope, and "faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." [Hebrews 11:1]

Gallery

Town Hall:

• the shady playground - a favourite spot while mum is at the gym
• Noah and Susannah on the formal walk to the lawns - the ballustrades have seen better days, but still look impressive
• Town Hall entrance

Meet The Neighbours:

• looking down Marmion street towards the rectory, and church beyond
• St Philip's Church - church office entrance; the rectory was built on adjacent land, to the right of the picture
• red-and-green Kangaroo Paw planted in the rectory front garden
• a family of lorakeets live in a eucalyptus tree just along the road

Town Hall

Meet The Neighbours

Persistence

Then [Jesus] said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'
"Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is a friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." Luke 11:5-10

The other morning, Noah got up at 5:30am, and decided that it would be a good idea to wake up mum and dad. He was ignored. So he got into our bed. And was ignored. By 6:15am he was bored of that, so he got out of our bed and started running up and down the hard-wood corridor shouting "I want some milk!" very loudly over and over again. Which, despite being very irritating, was ignored. At 6:30am, a little voice is heard from Susannah's room at the other end of the hard-wood corridor: "You need to say please, Noah!" To which Noah responds, "Please can I have some milk?!"

Shoot. We really couldn't ignore that...

Since we moved into the house, the kids have been settling to sleep quicker, but waking earlier. swings and roundabouts. Speaking of which, there seems to be a park on every street corner in Perth, which is fantastic. Peter, who took us out-and-about on Wednesday morning, did so again on Friday afternoon. We crossed the Swan to the south side, and went to a particularly impressive playground with stunning 180-degree views over the river. As it turned out, it was blowing a storm, so we watched the rain blow in, then retreated into a restaurant for coffees while the rain came over so hard the city-centre skyscrapers vanished in cloud...For Ruth's benefit, I took photos - but I'll have to upload them some other time.