Magpies, Blow Flies, and Flyin' Solo

September and October are traditionally very busy months for us and apparently no matter which continent we are settled on the tradition holds true.  Here are a few highlights from the Australian spring.

Starting in September the Australian magpies began feeling amorous and decide to perpetuate their species by breeding.  Now normally my interest in ornithology extends only to those wonderful avian species which can be eaten with gusto.  However the magpies were not content to leave me to my own interests and very aggressively made their presence a waking nightmare.  These fiendish pests swoop down on unsuspecting pedestrians with the violence of lioness protecting her cubs.  Now I was fully aware and prepared for the dangers presented by the numerous venomous snakes and spiders but I had no idea about the vicious song birds.  One little girl in Mandurah (a southern suburb of Perth) nearly lost an eye to a particularly nasty magpie.  A word to the wise, if you are going to visit King's park in September then bring an ice cream tub with eyes painted on it for your own protection.

Spring is also the time of blow flies in Australia.  I have to say that they are almost as annoying as mosquitoes.  You can be walking around town and see someone waving and mistakenly believe that they are waving at you but in reality they were just swatting away a fly. (Maybe the Aussies don't like me as much as I thought they did.)  Thankfully they don't bite just aggravate.

In the final week of September Amanda had the opportunity to visit Sydney with her oldest sister Racheal.  They both landed in Sydney on the 28th of September and stayed until Oct. 1st.  This meant that Amanda had to fly across Australia all alone and I got to care for the kids by myself.  (One of these things is not like the other one, one of these things just doesn't belong)  Amanda and Racheal had a great time in Sydney and I got a cold.  Thankfully, God has blessed me with wonderful children that really helped me through the worst days.

During Racheal's visit we drove to the Pinnacles National Park, John Forrest National Park, and King's Park.  John Forrest is one of our favorites as it allows visitors to get up close and personal with the Kangaroos that live there. 
Pinnacles National Park was about a 3 and a half drive north of Perth but it is truly one of the most unique places that I have ever visited.  Contained within this large park you have both an extreme desert and ocean vistas.  It is incredible.





Racheal helped us celebrate Amanda's 35th birthday and made it unforgettable.  Thank you for flying around the world to visit your baby sister and her family.  You made all of us feel very special.

October also brought Brandon's 13th birthday.  He decided to celebrate by going to a climbing center down in Perth.  It was a blast.  We spent the afternoon climbing, rappelling, and belaying one another.  Even Izzy and AJ got the opportunity to climb.  I cannot believe that I have a teen aged son but I am so thankful for him and what God is doing in his life.

 October is also my birth month so on the 23rd I did something I always wanted to do, I attended an October baseball game.  It was opening night for the Perth Heat as they hosted Adelaide.  It was a beautiful evening filled with bad food and good (not great) baseball.  I was rather shocked to find out that Australia has its own professional baseball league but I was delighted to take Brandon and Mikayla to see this wonderful sight.  We ate nachos, hot dogs, and meat pies while we took in the spectacle that is America's past time.  While I may never have the opportunity to catch a postseason MLB game in person, I can say that I have attended professional baseball games on two different continents and that is pretty cool.







The work at Avon Valley Baptist Church has been enjoying a great month as well.  We have had 6 first time visitors in the past few weeks.  Even better is that one of the couples has returned a couple of times and even joined our Wednesday night Bible study.  I am so thankful for this opportunity and I am humbled that God has blessed us in such an incredible manner.  Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement.  We love you all.

After 3 months...

The most common question that I am asked by people both here and back home is, “What’s it like/ do you like living in Australia?”  Because there is not a simple answer to their question I usually reply, “Oh, it’s really neat or It’s not that different or Sometimes it’s a little weird but it is really similar.”  The reality is that living in Australia is one of the coolest experiences of my life.  It is also one of the most difficult things I have ever undertaken. 

The term “alien familiarity” may appear to be an oxymoron however it is the best term that I can use to describe my time in this beautiful country.  There are so many wonderful things that are unique to Oz.  Certainly the wildlife comes to mind but the fauna are just a part of the habitat in which they dwell.  Western Australia, especially the Avon Valley, is a rolling landscape filled with tall grass prairies and granite outcroppings.  The fields of green are broken up intermittently by glorious bursts of the yellow flowers of canola fields.   I am told that as winter and spring begin to fade that all of this incredible color will be replaced by the drab colors of dormant foliage as the harshness of summer sets in earnest. 

Have you ever been in a public place when you heard a strange accent and were unable to resist the urge to turn and peek at the origin of the strange sounds?  In Australia, my family and I are the strangers that speak with funny accents.  While this land is full of immigrants, many of whom still have heavy accents, it seems that at times that no one from the US has every visited the quaint town of Northam. (I know this to be untrue because James and Holly live here!)  So while everyone around us speaks English (or at least a variation of it) we sometimes find ourselves confused or the subjects of quizzical amusement.  Here is a sampling of the words that we’ve found confusing and/or entertaining.  Biscuits- a cookie, scones – a biscuit, bickies(?)- cookies, stiff bickies – tough cookie (colloquialism), bikie – biker, firie – fire fighter, call – to visit someone in person, ring – to call someone on the phone, tea – a meal (anytime of the day), cuppa – as in cup of coffee (can be an invitation to join someone for a cup of coffee or tea), rockmelon – cantaloupe, mocka – mocha, chemist – pharmacy.  There are many more that currently escape me however you get the picture. 

By the way, it is football season in Australia.  The passion for the AFL rivals that of the NFL.  Here you can catch a “match” on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  The ball is a similar shape to the football I grew up with and they use their hands and feet, they tackle, there are 22 players on the field, and you can score six points in an attempt, however that is where the similarities cease.  I cannot explain “footy” with any sort of clarity except to say that it is highly entertaining to watch!  I encourage you to search Australian Rules football on YouTube see for yourself this confusing but exciting phenomenon.  Cricket is also on the “telie” but I have yet to comprehend it.

Finally, let me say that I wish I had paid more attention to the metric system.  In Australia they have embraced the metric system. (mostly)  They measure everything here in meters, Celsius, grams, etc.  (Expect for cooking where you will find that they still use cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons and carpentry where inches, feet, and yards still apply) I have adapted to Metric for the most part but I still have trouble telling the barber how many millimeters long to leave my hair.

Lynn Raburn warned Amanda and I, "The hardest part for you will be that everything feels so different yet looks so similar."  Bro Raburn you were correct sir.  It is the greatest blessing and the biggest obstacle.

2 Months in Australia

It had been my intention to update this blog every week while we are in Australia but as usual life has gotten a little chaotic. "Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up." (10 Points if anyone, other than a Woodard, can cite that quote) It's winter time here. It's not a harsh winter like northern Michigan but it is definitely not summer. This has probably been our biggest adjustment. Not the jet lag, different foods, interesting colloquialisms, or driving on the left hand side of the road. No winter has been our great foe. Why? you may ask. Because when we left the states it was spring time and we were just getting use to the warm weather. Now we are back to cool nights and rainy days that can sometimes leave you feeling a little blah. That was last week. This week we've seen the signs that spring is around the corner. The wildflowers are blooming (they are incredible here) and the days are just a little warmer and it's daylight just a little bit longer. Needless to say we're getting very excited! Winter time has also kept the kids inside a little more than they (and their parents)like. So Amanda and I decided that they needed a little structured recreation. Say hello to the PCYC (Police and Community Youth Centers similar to the YMCA). AJ and Isabella have signed up for the gymnastics class and Brandon and Mikayla are taking an intro to boxing class. They love it! (and so do Amanda and I) Isabella has been busy making a best friend. She has become best buddies with a sweet little girl named Hannah. We have been so thankful for her and thrilled that her grandparents allow her to come to our house for weekly play dates. While the kids are busy with their activities, church ministry has kept me very busy. We have had a couple of church members in the hospital down in Perth which means that I have been making regular visits to Perth. Perth is an awesome city and I have been thoroughly impressed with their traffic management. I do my best to avoid rush hour traffic periods but I have yet to caught in an dreadfully long traffic jam or witnessed anyone driving with their knees while texting. All in all driving here has not been as scary as I had believed it would be. Additionally, getting back into preaching weekly has been refreshing. I can't say that it has been great preaching but I have certainly enjoyed having the opportunity to share the messages that God brings to light in my heart and mind. The people here have been so encouraging and I can say that I have been truly blessed to teach and preach to them. Amanda has been leading a ladies Bible study on Thursday afternoons and the results of that are awesome to see. First off, the ladies that she meets with are such an encouragement to her. One of the ladies has four children in her home, two of which are from foster care. Watching Amanda pour into her and help her with the transition has been good for our friend and beneficial for Amanda. I admire my wife so much. She has such a tender heart for this lady and all moms. It is a blessing to watch her take the greatest challenges from her own life and use them to minister to others. She is truly a help meet and partner in ministry. One of the greatest blessings of this experience is the opportunities to make new friends. We have been honored to be in the homes of these wonderful people. They have gone out of their way to help us feel welcome and at home. If love is the testimony of true discipleship then these dear people walk closely with their God. While most of them are unlikely to read this, I want to take this opportunity to publically thank God and to thank them for helping us get here and get settled in our temporary home.

A Week In Australia

Well it has been a little more than a week since we landed in Australia.  I want to share our experiences getting here and what we've enjoyed so far in the land of Oz.

Everything had gone so smoothly up to the point we left Pensacola.  We enjoyed watching God provide our funding, take care of the administrative hurdles, and generally make everything incredibly easy for us to leave.  On Thursday night, May 21st, we took the leap and left Pensacola in my Tahoe with a small U-Haul trailer in tow. 

We had a few hiccups getting to Arkansas but nothing difficult or discouraging.  We really  enjoyed our send off party at Larry's Pizza with our Arkansan family and friends!  It was one of the best ways we could have said goodbye for 8 months.

Racheal (Amanda's sister) and Jeff and their two children went with us to Dallas to return our vehicle to Arkansas. (thanks Rach, Jeff, and Mom and Dad!)  Brandon, Mikayla, AJ, and Isabella were thrilled to spend a night in Great Wolf Lodge with their cousins, Nathan and Ashley.  We hade a blast playing together as a family and I can't thank them enough for coming with us.

We left for DFW Monday afternoon just in time to beat the monsoon that let loose while we were checking in for our first flight.  We were warned by the airline that our flight would probably be delayed and their forecast was 100% correct.  Our flight that was supposed to depart at 5:10 didn't leave the terminal until 7:30.  This of course caused us to miss our connection is San Francisco.  After an incredibly long night in the San Francisco airport we checked into a hotel at 6:00 AM.  The people at the Embassy Suites were incredibly kind and understanding.  I cannot remember sleeping more soundly than I did for those 5 hours.  The following evening (Tuesday night) we boarded our flight for Australia. 

Originally, we were supposed to fly from Dallas to San Francisco, to Auckland, NZ, and land in Perth.  However because of our missed connection we were not able to continue on our original itinerary.  We flew from San Fran to Sydney where we had another very tight connection.  Thankfully we made it just in the nick of time thanks to a wonderful ticketing agent.  Unfortunately, our luggage was unable to join us Sydney.   We hustled to the gate as the flight was boarding. 

James, Peter, and Greta graciously welcomed us to Australia at our gate as we disembarked from the plane.  Peter and Greta are a wonderful couple from Avon Valley Baptist Church and when they heard that our luggage was delayed kindly brought us some jackets and pullovers to keep us warm.

James made us feel so welcome right away.  He cooked a delicious pumpkin soup and a pumpkin pie for us that evening.  It was hard for us to stay awake before such a wonderful meal and virtually impossible to keep our eyes afterwards.  We turned in as soon as the sun went down and slept soundly through the entire night.  This helped us from experiencing the worst of jet lag. 

The following day we walked into town for our first visit to Northam.  We toured the Target "Country", Coles Grocery store and a couple of the shops on main street.  The products were pretty similar but the prices are decidedly higher.  I've come to understand that everything is higher in Australia and this is especially true in Western Australia.

Saturday and Sunday were ministry days.  James took me out and introduced me to some of the homebound members of the community.  These elderly men have led extraordinary lives and have some incredible stories to share.  Sunday came with a tutorial on the setup for Sunday and then a beautiful worship service. 

James's flight was scheduled for departure on Monday morning so I agreed to take him to the airport in Perth.  Thankfully, James drove to the airport and I was responsible for getting myself back to Northam.  This was my first driving test in Australia.  I had driven around Northam a couple of times just to familiarize myself with their vehicles but now I was driving the 100 kilometers from Perth to Northam at speeds of 110 kmh (68.something mph).  Surprisingly, everything went super smooth.

Now we are on our own in Northam, Western Australia.  (11,016 miles away from where we started)
So far we have seen the shopping centers in Northam and Midland (suburb of Perth), feed wild kangaroos, hiked 2 miles in a national park, ate at a McDonalds, visited a Target "Country" and a regular Target store, a K-Mart, a Big W (think old school Walmart) Cole's, Woolworth's, two bakeries in Northam, Civic Video (like a Blockbuster), and an Australian Post Office.  All of the people that we have met have been super friendly and delighted to help us with our (often ridiculous) questions.  We are having a blast!

(PS if you want to come visit we would love to host you but please bring a tea pitcher) 

Got Hope?

Each generation makes the same claim “It’s never been this bad before!”  Consider this for a moment, this planet has survived a global flood, an ice age, cataclysmic volcanic eruptions, the separation of the continents, major and minor earthquakes, and incredible weather events.  Yet our generation is declaring that things have never been as bad as they are right now.  In every generation the elderly howl in disgust with the behavior of modern youth.  This too is a repetitious cycle.   Quotes attributed to ancient scholars like Aristotle and Plato decry the behavior of young people. 

“Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.”- Socrates[1]

The reality is that each generation is guilty of wallowing in a self-indulgent pity party in which they proclaim “It cannot get any worse!” 

            These attitudes are not confined to non-Christian cultures.  Every generation from the resurrection of Christ has proclaimed that Jesus must be returning soon because things cannot possibly get any worse.  Some have gone so far as to even set dates for the return of the Messiah based upon what they claim is exhaustive study of Scripture and correlation of world events.  This is maddening because as Solomon declares the events of world history are constantly repeating themselves with new names and faces.  Jesus declared that His return would be preceded by

“wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.  "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.  And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.  And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.  And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.”[2]

At what point in human history have these things been absent?  I don’t want anyone to misunderstand what I am saying because my intent is not to discourage the vigilance that Christ commanded His followers to display.  I simply want encourage us to remember that our vigil is guided by the Holy Spirit and not by our human eyes.  As Christians we must stand before the hopeless world and proclaim the message of hope, the Gospel.  We cannot fulfill the Great Commission and declare that humanity is a lost cause at the same time. 

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[1] http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/63219-our-youth-now-love-luxury-they-have-bad-manners-contempt

[2] Matthew 24:6-12

Worth Waiting For

"I wish I had the words to describe what God is preparing for us.  I wish that I had the imagination to picture it and describe it to you.  I wish we had the ability to hear and understand what God is readying for us!  Paul wrote, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him." Whatever your expectation or desire of heaven maybe it simply cannot compete with the reality of what it is truly like.  I take comfort in knowing this, Jesus is there.  Whatever splendors heaven my hold, Jesus anchors my desire to dwell in heaven."

       When I am struggling with this life, its aches and pains, stress, heartaches, I have to remind myself that I am not home yet. In his letter to the Romans Paul wrote, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Many translations use the word "consider" in place of reckon but I love the way the KJV  translates this verse. "Reckon" is a fantastic word (especially to a southerner)! It means that the math has been done and whatever low I endure here cannot compare to the heights of glory I will enjoy. How can I be so sure? Because of Jesus! Read the Scriptures and look into the face of the Living Word. Everything that Jesus did on this Earth is but a glimpse of heaven. Here Jesus was veiled by the flesh (see Hebrews 10) for our protection but in heaven we'll get to experience the unveiled presence of Jesus. 

"What a day that will be,
When my Jesus I shall see,
And I look upon His face,
The One who saved me by His grace;
When He takes me by the hand,
And leads me through the Promised Land,
What a day, glorious day that will be."

"I Wonder Do Ya Know Him" S M Lockridge

Everything that God is exists eternally and is revealed to humanity.  He is holy, just, gracious, merciful, loving, and kind; in a word He is omnibenevolent.  He desires to reveal Himself to us so that we may enter into a relationship with Him.  To this end, God sent the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.