The Dream Awaits...

A Storm front is due to hit Sydney on Sunday evening - damage expected...

A Story of Success!

This white man sits and dreams, wondering if it is cosmologically possible for the stars to set in such a perfect alignment that would see his sporting utopia realised in 2008! The Hawks are the AFL champions and this weekend the mighty Melbourne Storm play off for back-to-back NRL titles. The Hawthorn Football Club achieved what many considered a far-fetched pipe-dream by beating the seemingly indominable Geelong Cats last Saturday in the 2008 AFL Grand Final. It was a victory full of grit, determination and hunger for the main prize. A win against the odds and a fitting reward for one of Glenferries favourite sons, Shane Crawford.

Crawford debuted for the Hawks in 1992, the year following their premiership success in 1991. At the time he must have thought he was going to board a gravy-train of success, playing in a champion team with more premiership glory an apparent fait accomplie. Little did Shane Crawford know that his debut would coincide with a 17 year drought of success that must have made him wonder if he would ever realise the ultimate dream of a Hawthorn premiership. But he endured and for this white man he was the real story of the Hawks victory this past Saturday. Why? Because it reminds us all that sometimes the spoils we expect to receive in life don't immediately get handed to us on a silver platter. But if we remain patient, endure and stay committed to a dream then eventually we will receive our due reward. I think that's exactly the essence of what Apostle Paul had in mind when he exhorted us all to keep running the race so as to win and receive the prize that awaits us.

Well done Hawthorn! Well done Shane Crawford! And yes Crawf, this white man unashamedly cried with you last Saturday because you are a champion and you deserve your success!

And now a Storm is brewing...

Verse For The Day

We're A Happy Team At Hawthorn...

How sweet it is!

The Obesity Pandemic!

After a two year loan to the United States, Michelangelo's David is being returned to Italy ....

His Proud Sponsors were:

A Soul-Provoking Graphic...

"He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:5

Such a Scandalous Truth!

This white man has been bemused at the recent ecumenical hysteria surrounding Dr Francis Macnab's recent proclamations about what the church must become and embrace to truly be a relevant church of the 21st century. Macnab, the presiding cleric of the Collins St Uniting Church in the heart of Melbourne believes, as many liberal theologians do, that the Protestant church needs some serious theological and practical revisioning. Rather than rehash all the details feel free to peruse this recent article from the Melbourne Age: http://www.theage.com.au/national/new-faith-throws-out-the-ten-commandments-20080915-4h3d.html?page=-1

On a personal note, whilst driving yesterday on the freeway I saw the billboard causing so much consternation; "THE TEN Commandments, one of the most negative documents ever written." I must admit that at first glance the bold pronouncement did cause me to do a quick mental and spiritual double-take. Then this white man realised that, in his humble opinion, the statement within itself is completely true. The Law was negative and was designed to be negative so as to bring humanity to the end of themselves by realising that there was no possible way they could ever adhere to the full measure of the Law and thus achieve right standing with God through their own human effort. So for what it is worth I agree with Dr Macnab in his one-line judgment upon the Law of Moses. And therefore, all of us should thank God for His grace and the freedom of living under the NEW covenant!

"By calling this covenant "new," He has made the first one (law) obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear." Hebrews 8:13

You Can't Please Everyone!

A church had to hire a new pastor. Over the protests of one vocal male member a woman was hired as the new senior pastor. After the new pastor had been there a few weeks, a member of the congregation offered to take the new pastor fishing. The vocal objector reluctantly agreed to allow them to use his boat and to go along. The trio got into the boat and motored out on the lake. When they got ready to fish, they realized that all their tackle had been left on the dock. One of the men commented that they would just have to go back and get it. The new pastor said that wouldn't be necessary, and she got out of the boat and started walking across the water toward the dock. The old grouch said, "See I told you we never should have brought her fishing. She can't even swim!"

So you see - when it comes to church and particularly your pastors, often times your best is just never good enough!

An Ode To Communism...

Courtesy of one of this white man's favourite groups from the late 80's, Crimson Glory...

"Trapped in their world no free passage to leave

You accept their tyrannical dream

You pray to their gods not your chosen ones

Freedom's clutched in the jaws of red kings

Give us your freedom, we'll give you hell

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil

Glory to red sharks

Answer to your red dictators

Feeding from your dreams

Cast into a sea of red sharks

Holding the power a hand that grips fate

Stripping from you all but fear

Hovering vultures like demons feed

On all who bow to their communist scheme

Give us your freedom, we'll give you hell

Hear no freedom, see no freedom, speak no freedom

Glory to red sharks
Answer to your red dictators
Feeding from your dreams
Cast into a sea of red sharks

Red sharks

Bloody red sharks!"

Verse For The Day...