Passion Under the Stars

Welcome to The Blog. Hold tight. It's going to be a long one...

After undue bullying and intense family pressure I've decided of my own free will to call Eddie's companion 'Dorothy'. My dad suggested it and was quite taken with his puntastic play on 'The Lizard of Oz'. That's the good news. The bad news is that neither Eddie not Dorothy have been seen at all for the past couple of weeks so I'm guessing that they've either eloped or been eaten by something sinister that isn't my wife. So that whole exercise turned out to be a bit pointless, didn't it?

On a more positive note the Easter Festival I referred to in my last post went very well. Apparently the turn-out wasn't quite as good this year (it was estimated at about 1500 people throughout the day) but I still think it was pretty good as a way of reaching out to the community and presenting a united message. I was very taken with the billing of it as a 'gift to the community'. I think that's an excellent attitude to take with a project like this. I hinted in my last blog that everything was free and that wasn't quite true. You had to pay for any food that you wanted but it was extremely cheap and very tasty. One of the things that I was also impressed with was the way that the central stage was used. There were chairs arranged for people to sit on while there were musicians playing, people presenting a drama and that kind of thing happening on the stage. This went on in the background all day - regardless of how many people were watching - meaning that the gospel was being presented in some kind of way throughout the whole event. At the end of the day a group of local Aboriginal Christians led those who were around in some songs and Laurie (from Cornerstone) was invited to preach. I thought this seemed to be an excellent way of genuinely giving something to the community without a hidden agenda, while at the same time creatively sharing the story of Jesus with those who might be interested (without any of the 'do we/don't we' awkwardness that we Evangelicals sometimes get when deciding exactly how evangelistic to make an event). A good day!

Here's something that's taken a little while to get used to. Because of the flat, bare land the nights get pretty cold here. Recently we had two nights where the temperature was getting towards UK winter levels. What's even worse is that it's cold when you wake up (now that the clocks have gone back), so a few times we woke up and did what we would normally do in the UK - which was say "Brrrr...it's cold" and dress for a cold day. However, then the sun comes out and it's reaching 30 degrees by noon and you're feeling pretty stupid (not to mention hot) because you're dressed for winter. We've had to get used to ignoring the temperature when we wake up and looking out of the window to try and tell what kind of weather we're in for. The answer is usually "It's going to be hot, hot, hot!". It's autumn here (apparently) but the temperature has definitely been about 30 degrees this week. I've worn shorts every day since we arrived (except for the days when I've dressed in jeans because I thought it was going to be cold and it turned out to be hot).


In other news, we've finally seen our first kangaroos. I was beginning to think that they didn't exist, a myth perpetuated by Aussie jokers. They are quite something to see in the flesh and can't half move when they feel threatened (the sight of Reid blundering over the horizon has that effect on most creatures). Ruth took a couple of photos. Bonus points if you can actually spot the kangaroo in the photo above (click on it to enlarge the photo - if you didn't already know you can do this with any of the photos on the blog). Here's a few more photos for you to enjoy.


Dubbo airport. It's nowhere near as busy as Heathrow, but it's got a great cafe inside.


Me eating an ice cream. Double scoop! The flavours were - if I remember correctly - 'Stairway to Heaven' (white chocolate flavoured ice cream with caramel swirls and chunks of Oreo cookies) and 'Rainbow' (tasted a bit like toffee and banana but who knows what it was supposed to be). I was a lot happier than I look.


Ruth found this skull under our house. She thinks it used to belong to a dog. I say a werewolf. Let's hope that she's right...



Two photos of Xanthe, who is adorable.



As it's Easter we let the boys go on an Easter egg hunt. See if you can spot the gold wrapped chocolate rabbit in the first photo. The second photo is Calvin gloating over his haul. This was before he found out that the 'eggs' were just stones wrapped in foil. "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?". Me, that's who.


Finally, an action shot! This is a game of volleyball in full swing. Who's that bronzed athlete leaping at the net like a salmon upstream? Me, that's who (whoa, deja vu). It may appear that I'm jumping like a goon at a ball nowhere near my hand but that's just the camera angle. In reality the supreme spike that followed won the game for my team who then proceeded to carry me from the court and shower me with expensive gifts.


We're currently babysitting a bird that belongs to another family. His name is Sid and here he is. Calvin is not in the cage with him, though I can see how you might jump to that conclusion following some of the other comments on this blog. He's just on the other side of the cage. That's all. No, really, he is. I promise.

Finally to the title of this blog. Although it seems like the title of a romantic drama starring Harrison Ford, it actually refers to my Maundy Thursday evening. One of the families put a big screen up outside their house and showed The Passion of the Christ. I'd not seen The Passion before and I thought it was a great film and watching it on a big screen underneath the Aussie night sky takes some beating. Being out in the country where the horizon seems endless and there's no light pollution makes for the best star lit nights I have ever seen. For the first time in my life I've been able to make out constellations (including the legendary Southern Cross that appears on the Aussie flag) and other galaxies. It's incredible. It's just a shame that the moon is upside down in this part of the world.

Have a great Easter weekend. He is risen!