The Hill is Broken

Hi everybody! Apologies for the lack of updates recently, but I've been a little distracted. I've spent the past month feverishly preparing a module on Acts to teach to the little sunbeams down at Broken Hill. Broken Hill is a Cornerstone first-year centre and they asked me if I'd like to spend a week teaching a module. Hence, I've been preparing for that.

Broken Hill is way out in the middle of nowhere, and that's saying something for Australia. It's a mining town and it's also notable for the being the area where they filmed the Mad Max films. The nearby village of Silverton is where they filmed the 'town scenes' from the first film. Ruth was able to go and see Silverton, but I wasn't able to because I was teaching. So I missed out on seeing something cool because I had to work. Here's a photo that Ruth took of Silverton Hotel. It was only when she was showing me the photos back here in Dubbo that I was able to point out to her that the car in the photo, parked in front of the hotel, is in fact the V8 Interceptor car from the film. The same one. Or at least one of them, as they used had about three I think. I've put another photo underneath - a better one of the car that I found on the Internet - and eagle-eyed readers will note that this is taken in front of the Silverton Hotel too. Of all the terrible things to happen to me in my life, not being able to go to Silverton and have a photo of me taken with this car is probably the worst. No exceptions.




Broken Hill is an interesting place. The houses contain a significant amount of corrugated iron, simply because it was light and easy to transport when they were building things. It's several hours from anywhere else in New South Wales and has a real outback settlement feel to it. The mining ensures that there are people and money around, but it also means that the local government had to regularly test soil, water and children for things like lead content. Everyone has filters for their tap water, and it's probably no coincidence that all three our of children were ill while we were there. In fact, I'm sure Ruth has been glowing since we got back - and I don't mean that she's pregnant. "What's a little fallout between friends?"

The teaching was a very encouraging experience for me. They had a really good group of first-year students and I hope I managed to fill their heads with some useful stuff about Acts. I enjoyed trying to make the lessons fun, and I also really like the emphasis that Cornerstone has on practical application - so as well as being able to pass on interesting historical trivia about Luke, Paul and Drusilla the Jewess we also talked a lot about how the principles of mission and church we find in Acts could mean something to us today. I wasn't sure about teaching Acts because my area of expertise is not really New Testament studies, and the group kept asking me difficult questions that I could only hazard a guess at - like "Where is the toilet?". They did seem to appreciate the course though, and I really appreciated them. I also got to play Risk 2210, which is like normal Risk but with a suitable Mad Max/Broken Hill/Apocalyptic theme.


For those who are interested, Broken Hill apparently got its name from a hill in the area which dipped at the peak so it looked like to was collapsing in on itself. The hill is now gone, I believe, to be replaced by a pile of dirt.

Here are a few more photos from Broken Hill, including a photo of me surrounded by my adoring students and one of the typical traffic problems in the town...





This'll be the last post before Ruth and the children are off to visit the UK. They're leaving on Thursday, so will be with you all very soon. Look after them for me. I'll write again some time - I won't say 'soon', but I will write again...

Men's Conference 2008

This weekend has seen Cornerstone's second annual Men's Conference, so I've been spending the past forty-eight hours being all manly and stuff. It's tiring work and as a result I need to go and have a nice lie down and sponge my fevered brow with a cold flannel. I think it was the harsh brutality of the paintball that did it. A few of the other guys went to play paintball. I didn't go, but I got so tired and nervous just thinking about it that I had to come and sit down in a darkened room for three hours. Oh the humanity!


One of the things that we did was based on Joshua chapters 3 & 4. In the story, the Israelites have just crossed the river Jordan and build a stone memorial so that they will remember what God has done. The idea was that when the children of the Israelites said "Dad, what's that pile of stones doing there?" then the story would be told and so it would be that God's goodness would be remembered from generation to generation. Someone thought that it would be good if we did a similar thing, so we built a wall. We were divided into groups depending on which training centre in Cornerstone's history that we represented. Then each group was responsible for laying a couple of bricks (seconds from the brick-makers that used to run on the Cornerstone site - in other words, we used stones that the builders had rejected...) on the site of a wall. The idea was that when the wall was complete we would lay on top some bricks we've had for a while that were marked with one of Cornerstone's 'mottos' ('To Understand, To Live, To Teach'). I thought it was a pretty cool idea, and I assume that the purpose is the same as it was in Old Testament times - we will look at it and others will be told the story of what it represents and God's goodness will be remembered.


After the monument was completed there was an opportunity for us to make a gesture of commitment / re-commitment to the path that God wants for our lives. It was something worth doing. We don't usually do symbols well in the evangelical tradition, which is a shame because we can miss out on good stuff like this.

Enjoy your week, and try and do something that gives you a physical reminder of God's goodness to look back upon.

The Woman from Snowy River

Well, it's been a long time since I updated this - sorry about that, by the way - but I'm finally ready to let you know what's been going on over here.

The big news is that my parents have been with us for the past two weeks. They'll actually be flying home as I'm writing this. In a plane, of course. We had a great time with them and it was great that they were able to come and see how the other half lives. They claim that they had a great time and particularly enjoyed the Cornerstone lifestyle. If I'm forced to take that back in my next post I won't be happy. Still, at the current rate of updating I won't have to write that apology for a couple of months, leaving plenty of time for "Webb Parents Enjoyed Cornerstone" rumours to make their way around the world.


We did plenty of fun things with my parents, such as visiting Dubbo Zoo (the first time I've actually been, despite living in Dubbo for over a year and having a wife who has actually appeared on TV looking like someone who lives there), riding horses (Well, Xanthe, Ruth and Calvin rode some horses) and more animal related things. We also spent a few days in Sydney together. We visited the Australian Museum where they had a dinosaur display on (because dinosaurs are now Australian, apparently) and went to Sydney Aquarium. Sydney Aquarium is billed as Australia's Number One Tourist Attraction, and I must say it was the best Aquarium that I've ever visited - and I've visited about two others in my life.


Reid liked the dinosaurs and the sharks. Calvin liked the dinosaurs and the sharks. Xanthe liked the stuffed koala. That's probably the difference between boys and girls summed up right there.


I'll put up a few photos now and leave it at that. Hopefully it won't be so long until my next post, but I can't promise anything. Except that I won't try and inhale Lego. I could promise that.

Good Friday

Today is Good Friday. I always find it helpful to challenge myself at this time of year. One of the big problems I have is that when you know the Easter story quite well and hear it year after year after year it can lose some of its power. I can't remember the first time that I realised the significance of it, and I certainly can't remember the first time that I heard it, so I find it helpful to try and keep it from becoming too familiar to me.

I'm sorry that there haven't been many updates in the past few months. I've been really busy since we moved, as I've been trying to finish the assignments that were outstanding for the course. The long and the short of it is that I need to graduate from the course that I came to do to change our visa. As I'm here as a student I need to finish with that visa before we can apply for a new one. I've completed most of everything that I needed to do so hopefully things will settle down a bit over the next few weeks. Having said that, I'll probably get the opportunity to do some teaching in the next few months so I will then have some lessons to prepare.


One of the things that's 'fun' about having three children is trying to get them ready for bed. It feels a bit like taking part in a challenge on The Crystal Maze. "I CAN'T SEE WHAT I HAVE TO DO!" "Just grab one of the children!" "WHERE IS THE CHILD. I CAN'T SEE THE CHILD!" "Over there! By the desk." "I'VE GOT THE CHILD! I'VE GOT THE CHILD! I CAN'T FIND THE TOOTHBRUSH!" "Look under the desk! Try under the desk!" and so on until all three little cherubs are tucked up safely. We try to have a consistent 'putting to bed' routine, which works very well but ensures for a hectic hour between six and seven. It appeals to the 'J' in our nature. If that makes no sense to you then try this Myers-Briggs Personality test. You can then check what it all means at this page here. Just click on the icons and read up about your personality type. If you have never done the Myers-Briggs test then you should. It's really interesting and helps you to understand yourself (and others) a lot better. I found out, for example, that I'm fine and it's everyone else who's broken. Which was nice.


We've had some family here recently. Ruth's second cousin and his family (Pete, Claire and Ben Aston) were in Sydney so popped up to see us for a few days. It was nice to have people from our previous life come and visit. My parents will be coming in about a month and we're really looking forward to that.

I understand it's a bit chilly over there in the UK. It's been really nice weather here since I last wrote. More summer than Autumn. We've only just dropped below 30 degrees here. Not that I'm gloating or anything... Winter is on its way and that's usually pretty nasty here due to the lack of effective heating in the property. That reminds me, I need to get up on the roof and make sure that our chimney is clear of bird nests etc.


I'm going to close with a poem that was written by a member of my congregation in Haywards Heath. I used it at the Good Friday service that I led this morning and it was suggested that I put it on the blog. It was written by Denis Carter and it won a small local poetry competition that he entered. He was very proud if it. I read it at his funeral, and I think it's a great reflection for Good Friday. Until next time, God bless.

THOUGHTS

Another cross for Golgotha Hill?

How I hate making crosses;

Cruel, torturing things.

But you can't say "No" to Rome.

And the price they pay

And the time they give -

Can't do a craftsman's job.

Rough hewn timber,

Splinters, lumps of bark!

Ill-fitting joints

And just a couple of nails

And some binding

To fix the beam.

"Only needs to be strong enough to hold a man",

They say,

"And wood soft enough to take the nails".

Punishment or sacrifice, what do they care?

So long as they get their picking!

Aye, aye, aye

In these days, in this town -

Who'd be a

Carpenter?

Denis Carter, March 1985.

Australian Weather

I'm supposed to talk about the weather so I'll begin by saying that - apparently - it's been the coldest summer since 1970 this year. Everyone is telling us how lucky we are that we've avoided a 40 degree heatwave but it's hard to feel lucky when you're waking up cold every morning. Is it too much to ask for a bit of sunshine? We've travelled half-way round the world to find that it's like being in England but without central heating. Still, it usually warms up a lot in the day and keep warm well into the evening.

Here's a photo of the mouse nest that we discovered under our sink. It's not a great photo, but I'm sure you can appreciate that our camera wasn't really designed for taking photos of vermin infestation while sticking your head under a sink. You can see some of the snail shells and a mouse skeleton in this photo if you know where to look.


I haven't updated this blog in a while, and I'm sorry for that. In fact this will probably be the customary short post. I'm really busy at the moment reeling off assignments like...something that gets reeled off quickly. Congratulations to Terry, anyway, who's just got his PhD. That means that he's officially a doctor, but not the useful sort.


Calvin's getting on well at school. He gets tired and I think he misses playing with Reid, but he's fine. He had his eyes tested a couple of days ago and despite Ruth and I being short-sighted he's actually slightly long-sighted. Apparently this is quite common in children. Or maybe it's just common in Australian children. Reid is doing well at preschool too. Even though he's still an angry loner, he is settling in really well and tells tales of all the things that he's doing with his 'new friends'. One of the things he's not doing, apparently, is asking their names. Still, one step at a time. Xanthe is still acting like she's the queen of Dubbo.


We've got a few guests coming soon. It's Staff Conference this week (look up the blog post from a year ago to get an idea of what that's about) and then we've got some of Ruth's family coming for a couple of days. In about six weeks my parents are coming to visit. We're looking forward to that.

Have a good week everyone. Hopefully I'll write again soon.

Happy Anniversary

Sorry for the long gap between posts but I've been pretty busy recently. I've been working hard at assignments as I'm trying to finish the third year course as soon as I can. Once I finish that then Ruth and I will be able to think about applying for a more permanent visa and see where God leads us over the next year or so.

It's Valentine's day here, but it's also the anniversary of our arrival in Sydney. We've been in Australia for a year. I can't really decide if it feels like a year or not. In one sense it doesn't, but when I think about all the things that have gone in in the past twelve months some of them seem like a lifetime ago.

It's amazing to think what God has done in the past year, and it's even more amazing to think that the adventure is still going on. It would be easy to, after the journey we've been on and sacrifices that have been made, think that we'd arrived; that we could just settle down and live our lives and assume that God isn't going to ask any more of us. But this is just one step in a lifetime's journey and it's exciting to think about what the future holds.

Speaking as someone who's taken a risk because they believed that God was leading them that way, I say to you 'do it'. It's not that it's been easy or always rewarding. Far from it. It's not that I expect everything to be rosy from this day forward. Again, far from it. It's just that I'm beginning to realise that settling for the mundane and not seeing every day as a potential adventure is not what God has called us to.

If you're deciding between settling down and pushing the boat out then I suggest that you push away. I can't say that you won't regret it, but I can tell you that you can't have an adventure with God without getting out of your depth at some point.

I hope that God has blessed each of you over the past year. May He continue to do so in the coming months.

Fearless Mouse Killers

Can you believe it? We've had storms pretty much every night for the the past few days. There's been plenty of rain - so much rain, in fact, that our garden is more like a bog than a garden at the moment. It's still summer and it's still really hot but it's also really wet. Dubbo usually 'enjoys' a dry heat, but it's been very humid this year. So I suppose we still haven't really experienced a true Dubbo summer.

Our new garden, water features aside, has some nice aspects to it. It's very big, which everyone in the family (except the designated lawn-mower pusher - i.e. me) loves. We are also growing grapes, lemons, limes, oranges and other edible vegetation. That's quite amazing. The grapes growing on our vine just outside the house are probably the tastiest grapes I've ever had. The only downside being that they are, of course, seeded grapes. Stupid non-genetically modified fruit.

Here's a few photos of our orchards. Admittedly, only the grapes look remotely edible at the moment but it's the thought that counts.






Calvin started school this week. Here he is in his school uniform, looking just a little bit like a tiny witch.


Still, I think that's better than this photo of Reid on the day that he started preschool (also this week). For some reason this photo reminds me of Jimmy Krankie.


They both got on very well with their new adventures. It's been quite a big week in that respect and it's made me feel a little tearful at some times. Mind you, that might have something to do with the mosquitoes that have been running rampant in the house.

Our mousetraps have been quite busy. Yesterday Ruth found a mouse that had gotten its rear end caught in the trap. It was still alive and struggling so Ruth grabbed it and tried to smack its head against the door frame. Unfortunately doing this meant that the mouse fell out of the trap and proceeded to escape, commando-crawl style, dragging its useless rear legs behind it. Ruth then smashed it to death with a newspaper. She's come a long way baby.