Rain, rain don't go away...

Believe it or not but we've had quite a bit of rain here. I feel cheated. I only came to Cornerstone because I thought it would be wall-to-wall sunshine, but beggars can't be choosers. Actually, I'm not sure about the validity of that statement because I'm sure that beggars can be choosers (i.e. as in "Hmmm, which shoe should I eat first?").

In England children run inside when it rains. In Australia they run outside when it rains. Calvin and Reid have been enjoying the water with all sorts of traditional boyish pursuits such as running through puddles, getting muddy, ruining their clothes with said mud, and making mum clean off the mud that they decided to plaster one of the Pizza Runners cars with. It's all good, harmless fun says I (whilst being 10km away in the safety of the Mat Exchange van).


On Sunday we had 'The Gathering'. That's the name of Cornerstone's monthly worship service. The format of the service is not so different from a regular church service, as we start with a time of worship and follow that with a sermon. Where 'The Gathering' differs is that we end with a time of, for want of a better word, 'sharing'. Now, I'm sure that many of you don't like hearing the words 'church', 'service' and 'sharing' in the same sentence but it works really well at Cornerstone. The idea is that people are encouraged to share thoughts and responses to the sermon. It's not really about discussing the sermon but rather exploring positive ways to apply what God might be saying to individuals and the community at that particular moment. It seemed like a good thing to do. It probably wouldn't work as well in a larger group, or where the individuals involved don't have the prearranged understanding that they're aiming to be a genuine Christian community and that means sometimes making yourself vulnerable to one another, but it works well at Cornerstone. It makes the service seem more like a group effort and, as an erstwhile preacher (what does 'erstwhile' mean anyway? It sounds good), it allows you to see something that you don't normally have the privilege of seeing - what God might have been saying through you. I would recommend it as a model for a church that is small in size and willing to take the risk.

I think I might have to market 'The Cornerstone Plan for Weight Loss' (hereafter referred to as TCPWL). A combination of the outdoor lifestyle, Splashe Cola and throwing those heavy mats around has meant that I've already lost massive amounts of weight. I've helpfully included a before and after photo below for those who want to see what an impact TCPWL has had on my bloated body. It's amazing! The weight is just dropping off, despite the fact that I had two meat pies for lunch today. These amazing results can be yours too - for just $50 I will share the secrets of TCPWL with you. Order now and I'll throw in a free 5x3 Grey Mat (choose between 'New' and 'Daggy') for you to experience my lifestyle in your own home!

BEFORE

AFTER

You're absolutely right. I do have too much time on my hands.

Ruth said that I should mention her more in my blog so I will just simply say that she has been working very hard to make our home a home (a little 'Fortress England' if you will) and has coped extremely well with the huge changes that our move has brought on. She is, as usual, more popular than me and everyone here loves her. I'm willing to bet, however, that they don't love her as much as I do (Now, I hope that she reads this or I've just wasted a perfectly good compliment). She has already arranged for Calvin to start pre-school this week and has made a delicious Victoria Sponge for afternoon tea tomorrow. What a lady. It's a good thing that Xanthe can't talk or she'd be nagging me for a mention too. That's right. Everyone wants to be a part of my blog. Everyone.


Thanks for reading. Please do leave comments because otherwise I'm not sure if anyone's actually viewing this (except my mum, who always e-mails me her comments. Hi mum!). G'day for now!

Splashe Mat

So here's a photo of me in my Mat Exchange uniform (i.e. blue shirt with appropriate logo). The guy driving is Bill, an ex-truck driver from Bourke. He's going to be my new boss when Matt moves to Swan Hill. The Mat Exchange is a great job. Today we BBQ'd some sausages for lunch while we were waiting for the dirty mats to finish in the washing machine. On Wednesday we got a burger and some Splashe Cola from 'Mrs C's Fine Foods' in Dubbo. Any job where your boss buys you caffeine drinks and includes a bottle of tomato sauce in his 'essential items' tool box is a job worth doing.

Let me tell you a little more about Splashe Cola, the greatest Australian invention since the dingo. It's a regional cola drink (like the Breton Cola that Goul introduced me to en Francais) so gets extra marks for being culturally relevant. It tastes awesome and, in my darkest moments, I find myself drinking a can of Coca Cola and wishing that it was Splashe Cola. Apparently it's about 90% caffeine. I think I'm addicted and I've only had one bottle. True, it was a 1 litre bottle, but still. I was told that it's not been the same since the police closed down the factory until they actually started filtering the river water that they used. Opinions on Splashe Cola are mixed at Cornerstone. Half the people here think, as I do, that it is a truly magnificant drink. The other half regard it as some sort of soul-bondage in liquid form. I merely scoff at these fools. I'm strong. I can quit any time I want.

It's not just the caffeine-related beverages that are different. They have the same shops but they're all wrong. For example, they have Woolworths here but the logo is different. Not just that, it's actually a different kind of shop. Here it's a grocery store like Tescos or Sainsburys so most of the food in our kitchen is Woolworths' 'Home Brand' label. It just feels wrong. Also, their attitude to rain is all messed up. They love it. Children actually go outside when it's raining - usually barefoot. Rain has got a rarity value here that it just doesn't have back in the UK. Perhaps we should export some UK rain to Australia. That might make up some of the national budget deficit. We had a storm last night that was pretty amazing to behold. I was learning how to deliver pizza at the time, so that was a unique experience.

The people are still great. While I was writing this a lady called Anne knocked at our door. She'd been walking outside and collected some wild Australia flowers for us to put in a vase. They do things like that for us all the time. It's wonderful. I dread to think how they would be treating us if we'd lost the cricket. Reid has been getting to know the wildlife a bit while here. He is a big fan of animals in general, so he's very happy with all the 'chooks' and stuff running around here. Today Ruth happened to notice him reaching out to poke a giant lizard that was wondering around outside. She intervened just in time. Apparently it was a 'Blue-Tongued Lizard'. They bite but don't do any real damage. I'm not sure if the animal identification was correct though, as just before bed Reid told us that the 'big lizard stuck its black tongue out at him'. Maybe it was a 'Black-Tongued Lizard' then. They're probably the most poisonous lizards in Australia or something like that. I suppose we're lucky Reid didn't bring it in to the house and start feeding it my shoes.

So ends another blog. Maybe next time I'll stop talking about little details and mention some God stuff. He deserves it. I need a drink. See you around.

Back to school...

I've just got back from carrying two buckets of hot water from the laundry room so that Ruth can have a bath. The things that I do for an easy life. The astute amongst you will probably deduce that this means that we don't have our hot water yet - that is correct - but we do now have a working fridge. We're getting there.

The thing that I'm enjoying most about Cornerstone is the community itself. It feels like a family with the emphasis on fun and laughter. Just when I begin to get a bit homesick or overwhelmed by the newness of it all I have a great conversation with someone that cheers me right up again. The support and understanding that's being offered is just great. There is, however, also a real recognition that sometimes people need space and a willingness to allow that. As one of life's bitter, twisted loners I truly appreciate the fact that I can close the doors and know that I will be given the space that I need.

Today I had my first lectures, which I enjoyed. The timetable is unusual here, to fit in with all aspects of community life. Lectures usually run from 8-9:30 and 4-6:30. This leaves most of the day free for work, study and free time. Later this week I'll be venturing out into the field of proper work for the first time in years when I'll be helping Matt with 'The Mat Exchange'. It's a business where companies hire mats for their floors, we take them away, clean them and then return them. The fact that I'll be working with a guy called 'Matt' is just one of life's little ironies. I'll also be trained up to be a pizza delivery driver. Those of you who know me well will realise the comedy potential here - my poor sense of direction is legendary. If you hear a knock on your door in the next few weeks then do answer. It'll probably be me with a double pepperoni.

Welcome to Burrabadine

Well, we're finally here. After months of prayer and planning we've finally made it to The Burrabadine Centre in Dubbo. It's been an amazing journey to get here and we wanted to share some of our initial impressions with friends and family through the medium of blog. Hopefully this will give us a chance to keep many of you updated with little titbits of information every now and then.

The trip from Heathrow seems like a distant memory but it wasn't even a week ago. What to say about the flight? We managed to get our obscene amounts of excess baggage on to the plane without having to pay or repack anything. Calvin watched Aladdin about six times. We ate some nice food and hardly slept. We changed flights at Singapore where I bought some UK/Aus plug adapters and was treated like royalty by the shop staff. In future I will have to remember that having two hours between flights is just enough time to convince yourself that you really don't want to get on that second flight. The flight to Sydney was, thankfully, about five hours shorter than the initial leg to Singapore but it was still long enough to make you forget what it's like to have room to lie down.

After landing at Sydney we got stuck in immigration behind a family who didn't seem to have the right paperwork, but when we eventually got through we were rushed through customs pretty easily due to not looking like your typical group of contraband smugglers. We were met by Andrew Vincent (and his youngest son Ben) who drove us the five hours west to Dubbo. Our camera was stored away in the trailer, otherwise we would have taken some photos of the most amazing territory I have ever seen. The Blue Mountains are incredible.

Arriving at Dubbo we were welcomed by a great group of people, but were far too tired to appreciate it. Ruth is astonished at how similar life in the Aussie Bush is to her childhood years spent in Africa. There's a definite mission compound feel about the place (according to her. I wouldn't know, but it has a volleyball court so I guess she's right).

Our flat has two bedrooms, an open-plan kitchen and lounge, a bathroom and a laundry room. The laundry room currently has no washing machine (it's sitting in our veranda waiting for the laundry room floor to be finished), we have no hot water (the plumber is 'waiting for a part') and we had a working fridge for a grand total of eight hours. Our water is pumped directly from the Macquarie river, and we have a separate tap for our drinking water (i.e. rain water). It's definitely not quite the same as our last home in Haywards Heath. It's not all bad though. We have fans in every room which keep the house cool whenever we want it (which makes them very comfortable in this summer heat), a bunk bed for the boys, nifty wooden floors and broadband pumped straight into the living room. Without hot water I've been having my showers in the boys shower block. It's a bit like being back at Spurgeon's.


It's as hot as you might expect for February in Australia. People tell me that it's quite mild at the moment, but I don't believe them. If this is 'mild' then I can't imagine what 'hot' is like. Crazy Aussies. It's a very, very dry place - and typically we've had downpours of rain for the past two days. People are already saying that we've brought the English weather with us, but that's OK because they're big fans of rain over here. It's quite rare. And what with England winning the cricket just before we arrived I think that some of the locals think that we have powers above other mere mortals.

Speaking of the locals...I've been amazed at how wonderful every single person here is. The community has been so helpful and supportive, they've really made it a lot easier to move country than it should be. It's not just the community though - Bush Australians are a very friendly bunch as a whole. I don't know if it's the same in the cities, but out here it's really easy to get into conversations with random strangers, and we've been a source of interest in the local shopping centre due to seemingly being the only English people in the area. I love Australians and I begin to see why people like Laurie are so good at talking about Jesus. Australians are very happy to talk to you about anything and everything. A fair few of the people we've spoken to have heard of the Cornerstone Community - it seems to be a well respected and known Christian witness in the town, despite it's unorthodox nature. As the minister of the local Presbyterian church reportedly said about Cornerstone "You don't produce good Presbyterians, but you produce good Christians". That's fine by me.

The boys are very popular here - as is Xanthe of course. They love it. There's so much space to run about and people to play with. We've got a sandpit in the garden, a playground attached to the school on the community, a swimming pool and so much more. It's an absolutely unbelievable life for children here.

The best news of all, however, is that Australians drink mammoth 375ml cans of Coca Cola instead of the microscopic 330ml that we get in the UK.

We'll be starting community life proper next week. I think that I'll just be fitting in to the third year course as a student to begin with and we'll see what happens. There's a real sense of this being a place just for growing in your faith and seeing how a Christian community can really function well. Watch this space!