Sharing Joy and Germs.

Hello all. This week has been interesting for two reasons.

Reason 1: It was Reid's birthday on Monday. We had the party on Sunday, which was a lot of fun. We played a few games of hide and seek, during which we found a variety of uses for a trampoline. Note to self - trampoline is not a good hiding place when you really want to hide.



Reid enjoyed his presents, including various pirate, superhero and Steve Irwin related action figures. He managed quite a good haul for his third birthday.


He also got a few DVDs. The Curious George one didn't play properly on our DVD player, so Ruth took it back to the shop. Those of you who know Ruth know that this was her bread and butter in the UK. Well, it's a bit more of a challenge here. She got knocked back the first time that she tried to exchange it. I say 'the first time' because she took up the challenge, went back and this time...she won. Undefeated World Champion - Ruth Webb!


Reason 2: There's been a nasty cold going round the community over the past couple of weeks and it was finally our time to be included. At the time of writing four of us are suffering with runny noses and general coldiness. The only one who has not succumbed is Ruth, who is highly resistant to cold and flu things. The children have suffered the worst, with Reid getting ill on the afternoon of his birthday. On the Tuesday he even fell asleep on the floor, so run down was he.


So the highlights of our week were a birthday and an illness. That's kind of the best and worst of community in one week. You get to share special events with lots of other people - you have a ready-made party for your birthday - but you also can't get away from the less excellent things about groups of people living in close community, such as illness. One of the best things is that you have to make people a priority. You'll never know when you might get a knock at the door and it's someone wanting a chat. At that point you have to make a decision about whether you're going to resent it or decide to be used by God in it. As a moody introvert I've been really challenged by this since arriving at Cornerstone. Before coming to Oz I remember reading something that reminded me that Jesus was constantly being interrupted by people and yet every time he viewed it as an opportunity to serve and be used by God. There are plenty of times where Jesus is trying to get away from people to get his own space, but he often gets thwarted in one way or another. Or there are times when he's on his way to do one thing and, along the way, people keep grabbing him and adding to his work-load. I'm sure that there were moments when Jesus' heart sank as these things happened, but his responses never betray anything other than a willingness to serve. Along the same lines, one of the things that I've heard a few times since arriving at Cornerstone is that 'you can't love efficiently'. I've been trying to take these things to heart and resolving to view interruptions in a positive light as opportunities to put people before tasks. It's been good for me. Community is great if you really are serious about having God work on those unpleasant, dark sections of your life. But it's easier to keep God out of those parts than really let Him go to work, isn't it?

Have a great week and thanks for keeping in touch with what we're up to. See you in seven days!

When will I, will I be famous?

Eating out is a fair bit cheaper in Oz compared to the UK, but there are a few differences that you need to get used to. For example, there seems to be a real shortage of decent Indian restaurants. Obviously there are plenty in the UK. Dominoes Pizza is quite expensive but very decent pizza in the UK. In Oz it's a lot cheaper (On holiday I think we paid about three of four pounds for a large pizza) but it's also very, very, very nasty. I think Pizza Hut is similar - it's cheaper and nastier than the yummy UK version. Pizza Runners is excellent stuff and it's still cheaper than you'd pay in the UK for comparable food. I'd also recommend Jimmy's Kitchen, a Chinese restaurant run by an ex-Cornerstoner. The Pizza Runners Rule of Takeaway Food applies here too - excellent food for a great price. Also, Jimmy takes a 5X3 grey mat from The Mat Exchange so I have to recommend him.


Still no sign of a ticket for last week's misdemeanour. I think I may have got away with it. However, in a calculated act of spite the Mat Van decided to break it's fan and radiator while I was on the way home from the run the other day. Thankfully I was able to get home and Matt was able to diagnose and fix the problem from my detailed report of the symptoms ("Matt, Matt! The van banged at me on the way home!")

It's freezing here. Literally. The temperature has been in the minus figures when we've woken up in the morning, but we still have the problem that I mentioned in an earlier blog so it warms up considerably as the day goes on. If you can find a spot in the sun you'll warm up nicely. Unfortunately our house doesn't get any sun, which makes it great in the summer and not-so-great in the winter.

Over the past few weeks a couple of Cornerstoners have appeared in the Dubbo Photo News while I remain languishing in obscurity. When will I get my fifteen minutes? What more do I have to do? I think I should be first choice for their (fully clothed) male equivalent of their (fully clothed) Page 3 Girl Men at Work. Matt appeared whilst on the Mat Exchange, so what about me? I deserve to be famous!


After last week's comments on evangelism I thought I'd write a little bit about one of my favourite things about the Cornerstone lifestyle - the common purse. That's one of the things that's likely to make people think twice about coming to Cornerstone - after all, isn't sharing money the sort of thing that cults do? I think that this reaction (which was my initial reaction) reflects the deeply engrained idea that the way that we deal with money in the West is normal and healthy. As a result the way that Cornerstone tries to deal with money is a very powerful counter-cultural statement. It's the powerful message that I really like about the common purse.

The guiding principle behind it is, as with the early church, the belief that if Christians are living in community there should be no-one whose basic needs are not met. The way that this works is that any money you earn whilst a part of Cornerstone goes into the common purse. Out of this common purse everyone's bills and basic needs are met. Out of the surplus everyone is granted an 'allowance'. The allowance you receive will depend on your situation, but what it means is that everyone gets a roughly equivalent and appropriate amount of money on top of having their basic needs met. If, like me, you hardly bring in any money it's quite a nice set-up. If, like others here, you are a skilled professional and bring in a more substantial salary it's a far greater sacrifice. The fact that so many people here are willing to sacrifice earning power to support bludgers like Ruth and I is a testament to how significant this principle is. You should also be able to see right away how it sends a powerful but unwelcome message to the rest of our society. I think it's an amazing way of living and certainly enjoy it. I hope that I would have the integrity to feel the same way even if I was the one sacrificing an impressive salary, but I have yet to be in that position! I am thankful to those who are making that sacrifice.

It must be noted that in addition to the system above any money that comes to an individual from a para-Cornerstone source (such as gifts or inheritance or anything like that) belongs to that individual and is his or hers to do with as she pleases - so the money that Ruth and I got from, for example, selling our car is ours to spend on Splashe cola and chocolate chip hot cross buns.

It's both excellent and a challenge to be in a place where there is a genuine attempt at 'whole of life spirituality' that includes a radical approach to finances. I like the challenge of asking which parts of my life do not reflect the Lordship of Christ, and I think that there's no more radical witness than a life that is consistent in this respect. The common purse is an easy thing to make sound dodgy, but it's really not and seems like a totally sane way to be living if you're trying to be a Christian community.

It's Reid's third birthday on Monday and he's having a joint tea party tomorrow with one of the other children here at Cornerstone. Ruth has made a jungle cake for the party - here's a photo. She's very talented.


I'm off to think of ways of getting in the Dubbo Photo News ('Local Pom Drives Into River'? 'Crazy Brit Gatecrashes Sheila's Twenty-First Birthday Party'?) so I'll leave you for the week. Have a good one.

Red Lights and Green Lights

Driving in Australia is pretty neat. The journey home from Queensland was surprisingly easy. The journey was relaxed and straight forward and far less stressful than driving in the UK. There's less traffic, the roads are essentially totally straight for hundreds of kilometres and there's plenty of places to stop - not to mention the fact that petrol is about half the price it is in the UK. The police are quite strict on the road rules here. They have a few more devices to enforce them than they do in the UK. As well as speed cameras they have red light cameras which snap you if you run a red light or even stop over the line at a red light. Furthermore, over bank holiday weekends they give you double penalty points. This can result in you losing a clean license in one trip - let's say you visit a friend and are caught on a speed camera (3 points) once on the way there and once on the way back. Two lots of three points become two lots of six points - so you go from zero to twelve points just like that and lose your license. I am immune to this threat however as I have a UK license and can't get Australian points on it. I would still be liable for whatever fines I incur however. The reason I'm so clued up on the driving laws is because I think I might have been snapped by a red light camera (I accidentally ran a red light in the mat van a week ago) so am currently waiting to see if I receive a ticket for my heinous crime. Maybe I'll get deported.

Calvin is at that age where he asks lots of questions about why everything is the way it is. Reid also asks a lot of questions but his are a lot easier to answer. His most recent head-scratchers have been "May I hit your car with this hammer?" and "Dad, may I borrow that knife for a second?". At least he asks I suppose. I wonder if there's a career opening in the 'Evil Genius' field. I think he might have a bright future on that particular career ladder.

Those of you who are of a praying bent may wish to think of us as we consider what we're going to be doing next year. It's still pretty early (by Cornerstone standards) to be thinking of that, but the thing that has us stumped is the sheer volume of options we have with Cornerstone. There are plenty of opportunities for different ministries and things to do and we will really need some help in sorting out what will the best use of our time and gifts.

One of the things that I've really appreciated, benefited from and learnt from is Cornerstone's emphasis on what I will call 'natural evangelism'. The staff team here just seem to make evangelism look so easy. I don't mean 'evangelism' as in running and organising events, I mean 'evangelism' as in good-old-fashioned talking with people about Jesus. You could put some of the staff members here in any social environment and within minutes they'll be talking about the gospel with people in a natural and personable way - and people respond. What's truly beautiful about the whole thing (and, to my mind, a sign of the Holy Spirit working) is that instead of my usual default response to such things ("Why am I so useless? I'm so depressed") it makes me think "Hey. I really think that I can do this too.". I believe that I bought into the half-truth "Evangelism isn't my gift" thing simply as an excuse for my fear. If I have Jesus on one side and Fear on the other, the real god in my life is the one that I obey. In the field of evangelism Fear has been my god for too long a time. Cornerstone makes evangelism look exciting and I'm hoping to hold on to that feeling for as long as I can. I've still got a long way to go, but I feel like the traffic lights have just changed from amber to green.

Hope that you all have a great week. I hope that we do too!

(Image at the top of this post taken from here)

Winter Wonderland

Welcome to the Webb holiday blog update! Here’s what we’ve been up to for the past two weeks.

A couple of weeks ago we drove from Dubbo to Toowoomba in Queensland (the state just up from NSW). The journey took about eleven hours including some decent stops. We were travelling in convoy with fellow student Ian Johansson as I was going to be taking part in a Scripture Union camp with him. We stayed with his parents in Toowoomba for a couple of nights and had a splendid time. Ruth wonders if there is a road called 'Toowoomba Way' as she'd quite like to live there. All together now: Toowoomba Way, Toowoomba Way, Toowoomba Way. In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight...

I think that this is the perfect time to state that, of what I’ve seen so far, Queensland seems to be far more beautiful than NSW. Sorry to all the NSW friends I’ve made, but it’s true. The bits of NSW that I’ve seen (and to be fair, I’ve not seen much at all) have that flat, wide-expansive, red-soiled beauty that I’ve raved about in previous posts but Queensland is full of tropical plant-life and amazing mountains which make for some awesome panoramic views. It’s a totally different type of beauty to NSW but one that I think I prefer. Maybe when we see a bit more of NSW I’ll modify my opinion (after all, the Blue Mountains are amazing) but I’m not sure that I will. NSW may be pretty but Queensland is gorgeous. And it’s warmer too.


After a couple of nights in Toowoomba we drove a few hours along to coast to Mapleton via Brisbane. As Brisbane is the capital city of the state and therefore a busy place we finally got to drive on an Australian motorway. It’s pretty similar to a UK motorway but nowhere near as busy. I wonder what Aussie visitors to the UK make of the M25?

The camp site at Mapleton (known as QCCC) was also very nice. The Webb family had a nice little cabin to ourselves whilst Ian had to sleep in the boys dorm. Despite the fact that we only had curtains to separate our sleeping areas I think that we still managed to get more sleep than him. The centre was quite similar to the kind of sites you might find at places like The New Forest and so on - except for the fact that it’s more like a rainforest and the Health and Safety Fear hasn’t gripped Oz quite as badly as it has in the UK. There were precarious bridges and cliff drops all over the place, with no visible means of preventing campers from plunging to their deaths (or at least plunging to their serious injuries). This SU camp is known as ‘Training Week’ and was for Christians aged between 15-17, the majority of whom had displayed some potential as leaders in their school’s Christian activities. Some non-Christians slipped through the net though, and it was a really great week for them to be exposed to what being a Christian really means. The whole thing went really well and I know have renewed respect for those of you who are frequently involved in discipling that age group. Of course, the highlight of the week was the Leaders vs. Campers touch ‘footy’ game which the Leaders (quite rightly) dominated. I was a key member of the winning squad, with my ‘pass without looking’ method striking fear into both friend and foe alike. Apart from that, I think the week has just confirmed for me that I’m better able to communicate to older age groups but it was still a great experience and the young people really seemed to benefit from the week and the things that Ian and I shared. Those of you from Haywards Heath may remember the Ukrainian “Don’t swap your cross for chewing gum” story that was shared with us. It went down very well here in Queensland too. If you don’t know the story then ask me and I’ll tell you.

Ian was on great form and proved himself to be truly ‘down with the kidz’. I found out a few of his nicknames from his days as a Scripture Union schools chaplain (Joey, Jopantsdown, Johandsome and Jo ugly). While we were there we heard that the Federal government (i.e. Australia’s ‘national’ government as opposed to the individual state governments) had decided to plough even more money into providing chaplains for schools. These chaplains must provide support for the ‘pastoral’ and ‘spiritual’ needs of the students (so they’re not allowed to just be social workers – they have to be coming from a ‘spiritual’ position). The chaplain must also reflect the make-up of the local community and the only faith in Australia that is currently set up to provide this service is Christianity. You essentially have the Australian government providing millions of dollars to make sure that most students have access to a Christian schools worker. It’s an amazing situation and Scripture Union currently have far more schools than chaplains at the moment. If any of you youth workers out there are looking for an excuse to move to Queensland and work as a Christian school chaplain then here it is. I just can’t imagine the same thing happening in the UK, at least certainly not being funded by the government.

Following the camp we drove half-an-hour down the road to Caloundra and picked up the keys to our accommodation. The flat was a minute’s walk from the beach and the weather was amazing, pretty much like a spring or even summer week in the UK. To put this in perspective I’ll remind you that it’s winter here – weatherwise the equivalent UK time would be January, one of the coldest times of the year in Britain. The difference between the UK in January and the Sunshine Coast in July is that you wouldn’t expect to go swimming in the sea in the UK.


Our holiday in Caloundra was bonzer. The incredible weather was amazing for winter and just cemented Queensland’s position as “My favourite State”. One of the highlights was getting to visit Steve Irwin’s former stomping ground, Australia Zoo. Crikey! It was a great experience but there was something a little saddening about seeing so many pictures and videos of Steve-o. It would have been great to get to see him in action but the zoo is still doing plenty of business and some excellent work in the field of conservation. Reid and Calvin loved seeing the crocs too.




As well as swimming in the sea at Mooloolaba and Caloundra, we also managed to get to see the Glass House Mountains, visit friends in ‘nearby’ Labrador and have a meal at Kentucky Fried Chicken. The Colonel sends his regards. After a great week we enjoyed a thirteen hour journey back to Dubbo, which seems to be horribly cold after our time in sunny Queensland.

That’s about it for now. It’s a lot to take in, so I’ll leave you with some photos to enjoy. Hopefully see you in a week!