So, there seems to be a general freeze in the blogosphere, so I figured now’s the time to fire something off myself.

Three year!

It certainly has gone quickly.

I guess it’s only Four years since we met, so that’s not a huge amount of time in the scheme of things.
But they have been the best years of my life.

A beautiful wife, a lovely daughter, another on the way… it doesn’t get much better.

We got to celebrate by heading into the city for a night by ourselves for the first time since “Pumpkin” was born. I can’t say enough nice things about the Shangri-la. The view from our room was awesome, the room itself was comfy, the cocktail bar (a free cocktail was included with our stay! Woo Hoo!) was awesome, and it was close to all the fun stuff in the city!

So, sanctity of our marriage, I’ll avoid posting pics of my beloved without permission, but I will include some of the the sights & sounds of the evening.

We loved the view from our room. It was pretty during the day & stunning at night!!

This little puppy is called “A Pear of Sidecars” and was awesome. It felt sophisticated to start the evening with a complimentary cocktail. Even better, the non-alcoholic one that Shona got was just as tasty as mine! That’s always a good sign.

Oh man, [Red Oak](http://www.redoak.com.au/) in the city was the most awesome surprise of the evening! I’d heard of this micro-brewery, but this was the first time I had been there. What you see above is a meat tasting plate. From top to bottom it is

1. Prosciutto, bocconcini and baby rocquette salad accompanied by a tasting size of their award winning bitter
2. Chicken and shitake mushroom croquette with tomato confit accompanied by organic pale ale.
3. Pork, duck and walnut terrine with pickled eggplant accompanied by Irish red ale, and finally
4. Baltic Porter and Swiss brown mushroom moussakka accompanied by an oatmeal stout, possibly the nicest stout I’ve ever had.

For mains we shared a Chicken with a parsley & bacon farce braised baby cos lettuce, crushed potato preserved lemon and a spinach and pear relish, as well as Limestone Coast Lamb Sausages, with Oatmeal Stout, garlic, black pepper and parsley, served on a herb mashed potato with Oatmeal Stout jus.

The dessert was the thing I was waiting for, keen to try icecream or chocolates made with beer, but we were so full that I had to hold off!

The “Fraimboise Froment” Raspberry beer was pretty darn amazing too.

We decided to walk off some of our food, cruising down to the harbour. Of course, by the time we had walked for a bit, we found ourselves ready for dessert & the Guylian store.

The Passionfruit & chocolate torte was TDF!

So there we go. It was great to have a little time off & even better to have a food & foto night! Good times had by all!

I have spent a lot of time thinking about this over the years, I may have even blogged about it before, but while I was reading an article in [The Briefing](http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/briefing/) the other day I was encouraged again & challenged about how I see my ministry unfolding.

In the article Bruce hall says (I hate that I can’t get quotes to work properly on this blog)

> It is more important to have someone on a team whose character is above reproach and who models Christlikeness than any abilities he might have.

It made me think about those things that I value in myself and others when it comes to ministry.

What is it that I want to spur my parishioners on to? Surely it’s a deep and abiding knowledge of God, which is expressed through their growing more like Christ.

How is it that I seek to bring people to this place? Accepting, that it is the Holy Spirit that is going to do this work, still my responsibility is to preach the gospel winsomely.

But does my focus on this sometimes cloud the fact that the best way to call people to a certain life is to model that life in the way that I live?

OK, this blog is a little too “stream of consciousness” for my liking, so I’m going to try & synthesise.

I can get away with maybe 20 minutes for a sermon on a Sunday morning. Surely I ought to consider how to preach the gospel more effectively in the 23 hours 40 minutes when I’m not at the pulpit?

More thoughts on personal integrity to come, including how a Quarter Pounder might reflect one’s relationship with God.

I arrived at about 5:15 in the am. The sub-branch president of the [RSL](http://www.rsl.org.au/) had invited me to come and speak to those who assembled to commemorate [ANZAC](http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac_tradition.asp) day (It’s interesting how people talk about “celebrating” ANZAC day rather than “Commemorating” it. I think I’ll react to that a little in this post. Oh, for the internationals, you might want to click on the ANZAC link to get a feel for what I’m talking about)

I was a little surprised by the crowd. It’s pre-dawn, pouring rain & quite cool, yet gathered in the RSL are maybe 300 people who have come for the dawn service.

Sombreness, quiet, contemplative, respectful.

The names of the war dead from the region were read, and I was invited to speak. I spoke, only for a couple of minutes, about the statement “lest we forget,” noting how the drive and focus of our lives changes when we make sure to hold in our minds the sacrifices that have been made to secure the freedoms we might otherwise take for granted. Of course, this is a theme that reflects the ANZAC sacrifice, and even more-so that made by Christ on the cross, securing for us the freedom to call God our Father. It was a sedate (but I hope challenging) message, followed by a reading of “[The Ode of Remembrance”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode_of_Remembrance) and the end of the service.

I left almost straight after, having to rush home before heading out to a morning of church services.

My entry at 2pm was quite a different one!

I wasn’t even at the doors before I heard the excited yells. Having navigated the crowded entry way, the first room to the left was crowded with men (and women who were particularly game) surrounding a ring of ground, where a couple of men stood, tossing coins in the air, while everyone bet on the result. The great Australian gambling institution of “[two up](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-up),” legal only on this day, was being played. The rest of the pub was full of people having fun, drinking beer & watching footy!

At 2:45 I headed outside to the cenotaph where there was quiet for another service & I had the chance to speak again.

I’ll be honest, I had expected this experience, so I was prepared, ready to talk about how we make sense of these seemingly contradictory experiences.

I think a lot of people wonder how we have such a party atmosphere through so much of this day. Isn’t it a time for commemoration, for solemn consideration?

Yet in the celebration we see a reflection of what it was that so many ANZACS died for. In their loftier moments, maybe when they were being interviewed for a paper, they may have spoken of the greater virtues for which they fought, the grand philosophical ideals, but the truth, I think, is that most men fought to protect that basic, day to day freedoms that we all enjoy. It was for the chance to play some games with your mates & enjoy a cold beer, the chance to enjoy a barbie & chew the fat (literally and figuratively) that these men fought & died.
What they were about was not just the grand & majestic, but the whole of life!

Do we fail to apply this principle to our understanding of God?

Have we built a philosophical “ivory tower” with starched collars, organ music, brass crosses & uncomfortable pews, where a God of frowns & consternation lives?

I’m thankful that the God that I know is a God who is interested in the whole of life. Dare I say it, he’s more interested in my Monday to Saturday than he is in my Sunday morning.

Jesus didn’t spend the lion’s share of his time with religious leaders & wowsers, but with tradesmen, the poor & the “authentic” people of the world. And his death, on our behalf, was made to redeem ALL of our lives, both the majestic & the mundane.

We’d do well to reflect on the sacrifices that our forefathers made on our behalf, when we enjoy so many things that billions in this world don’t have access to. And we’d do even better to remember that God offers EVERYONE a chance at even greater things if they put their faith & trust in Jesus.

Buffet breakfast is definitely the best way to start a day.

Moderation was shelved in favour of a breakxcess (breakfast excess) of Bacon eggs, sausages, mushrooms, smoked salmon, smoked haddock, seasonal fruit, croissants and whatever else I could get my hands on!

Having let that digest a little, we decided that we ought to take a ride on a ferry. Since we had our Zoo Passes we decided that this might be our destination!

I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

The Giraffes were a bit of a highlight for us. Both lovely and unlikely in shape…

This is the view that the Giraffes get to look at every day. I could think of worse ways to spend my time.

This was as close as the Pumpkin got to having a birthday cake over her holiday.

It’s fun to see the people staring out of the scenic flyer as their ferried to the top of the zoo & over all the animals.

I have to say that the shows they put on are very professional. Well worth the wait & lots of fun.

I figure we need at least one Australian animal in the photos. Like any true Aussie he appears to be lazing on the job…

An obligatory picture of Mr. Shuffles is also to be expected.

So that was our time at the Zoo. We caught another ferry back before heading up for a little R&R

Views on the harbour really are magic. I ought to head out there more often.

A lovely wife & gorgeous daughter makes a pretty good view too.

That night Shona & the Bub were both a bit crook, so they decided to rest up in the hotel (Possibly a ruse on Shona’s part to enjoy room service & cable TV) while I went out to enjoy some night photography. I was out there for ages & took a fair few shots, but since my posts are getting longer & longer, I will leave it with just a few.

The cruise ship parked in the harbour was huge! Of course this photo makes it look a little bigger than it really was… It wasn’t quite Harbour Bridge height.

It’s not easy to take an original picture of the Opera House. This is my take…

So, having skimpped on dinner (Thank you Mr. Mcdonald) I decided that I could let loose a little with dessert. We’d noticed in our travells the night before, a Guylian cafe in the rocks. I noticed that night, that I could save 30% of the price by getting take away instead of eating there.
Why, when we have one of the prettiest harbours in the world, would you want to sit on a crowded street & pay top dollar for the privilege?

Guylian’s “100% pleasure,” made of Panna Cotta, surrounded by chocolate mousse, enrobed in a rich chocolate glaze with gold flecks, and finally finished with some shards of rich chocolate and a chocolate orange square on top!

The lion’s share of photos had been taken for the weekend. The vast majority of food had been eaten. All we had left was a swim or two to enjoy in the pool & then a mornign at church in the city to come on Sunday….

It’s great to start the day hanging out with the inlaws (I am a lucky man to be able to say that!).

It takes your morning up that extra notch when you then get to have a full hot breakfast!

And another notch when said breakfast costs you the princely sum of $2.95!!!!

Oh the joys of Ikea!

We sauntered around in the store for a little bit, then we showed the depths of our restraint by only buying the mini table & chairs for the bub that we had come for.

At this point we were at a bit of a loss. It was still fairly early in the morning & the room we’d booked at the Intercontinental (a little present to the wife) wasn’t supposed to be ready till 2pm.

A call to the hotel, an assurance that they could look after our bags in the mean time, and off we went! When we got there we even got the lovely news that we could head straight up to our room!

The good news: We had a view of the Harbour Bridge.

The bad news: We were in a room set up for disability. It was the only room with a King sized bed left, and at first it was really attractive, because we knew we’d have a wide door, perfect for prams. Of course, we hadn’t considered that we would also have one of those showers that has no lip at the bottom, so any shower puts water on the whole bathroom floor! A problem when you intend to let your kid sleep in there!

Still, if that is the worst problem you have, you’re doing well! I dealt with it by having showers in the well appointed change rooms near the rooftop pool & gym!

So, back to our day.

We headed off to a local food court where I got to have an all time favourite lunch, [Beef Bibimbap](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibimbap)

Lerle, Shona’s mum, had headed into town to go to the [Art Gallery of NSW](http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/) with a friend, so we met up with her after they were done & spent a lovely hour or two getting a free tour (Lerle’s an art teacher) and having a coffee.

Our afternoon was punctuated by a nice walk through the city to drop Lerle at the train station, and when we passed a cupcake shop on the way home, we were duty-bound to sample their wears (A birthday cupcake for the bub… but of course she needed help eating it!).

We needed a little while after that to unwind. We did that with a bit of relaxation in the room, but it was completed by going down & enjoying a complimentary cocktail down at “The Cortile,” in the hotel’s foyer.

A walk around the harbour afterwards was a lovely way to go, followed by a beer & dinner at the [Belgian Beer Cafe](http://www.belgian-beer-cafe.com.au/heritage.html)

By this time it was all we could do to stare in the windows of potential dessert places. Not another morsel was going to pass our mouths, but that was just fine. We’d certainly had a full & entertaining day, and to think we had two more to enjoy!!!

You should have seen the size of the post I wrote last night.

You should have seen the effort I put into well crafted words.

You should have seen the disappointment when we had a blackout, literally a minute before finshing!
I still have lots of photos & I still have several words to say, so you still get to see how the Pumpkin’s Birthday Long Weekend played itself out. We’ll start with birthday day, Thursday…

Bub got heaps of lovely presents, all of which she appreciates, but I’ll show you two here. The first (above) is some books. Pumpkin loves books. Pumpkin even pretends to read books! Occasionally Pumpkin even eats books!

This present is one that is not a great deal of use at the moment, given that 1 year olds don’t understand how to pedal! She’ll grow into it though, it will last a long time & most importantly, I couldn’t not buy it! So retro, so solidly made, so red!!!

The big part of the day for the bub, however, was heading to the [Zoo](http://www.taronga.org.au/)! We gave her a “Zoo Friends” pass for her birthday, so I expect she’ll spend a lot more time there over the next little while!

Here we are waiting for the bird show. The view was fantastic, the weather was exceptional & Pumpkin was well behaved. If only she cared about the birds. Feet, cameras & people were far more interesting, at least until the Andean Condor with it’s 3 meter wing span turned up…

He kind of demanded attention!

I’m committed to spending more time with the penguins & seals when I go next. So cheeky, so friendly & so cool!

Pumpkin is more committed to spending time with Calippos in the future. It was a minor tactical error to give her a suck to begin with. We awakened an animal who LOVES to eat ice blocks & HATES to share anything!

[Taronga](http://www.taronga.org.au/) is on a fairly steep hill, so we were happy to take the sky ride back up. Pumpkin was certainly happy with the view & the chance to stand up & shout!

But our day didn’t end there! That night we spent time at Nanny & Grandad’s house. I didn’t get pictures of that.

More importantly, I got to spend time at my [new favourite chocolate store](http://www.cocochocolate.com.au/) (tied with Adora) [Coco Chocolate](http://www.cocochocolate.com.au/)!

There are lovely block chocolates with flavours such as “Organic Coconut, Lime & Dark Chocolate,” “Caramel, Pinenut & Sea Salt,” “Orange, Lemon & Geranium” & “Cardamom & Cinnamon Dark.” This place if flavour central!

The “Organic Rose & Black Peppercorn” hot chocolate was awesome (as is the bar chocolate of the same name) & you can rest assured I took home a bunch of chocolates to trial & savour over the coming weeks!

SO that was day 1. Good food. Good times. Can you believe that there are 3 days to go!

The Bub loved her first Easter & her first chocolate.

There is much more to tell (as Amy has requested) but it will have to wait till after pumpkin’s Birthday 4-day weekend! We’ll fit in a zoo, a trip to Ikea, visit with grandparents, some art galleries, a ferry ride & a bunch of other fun bits & pieces!
Back soon!

Having published my poem last week, I was listening to a Church History lecture the very next day while I jogged & it mentioned the 9th Century theologian, Predestinationist & poet, [Gottschalk of Orbais](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottschalk_of_Orbais).
I was all excited to track down some of Gottschalk’s poems, but am yet to be successful.

That’s just fine for me, because I thought I would take you to a little [C.S. Lewis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis) first. Jack (says Tim, faking some kind of personal connection by using the nickname Lewis had from childhood) really was a multi-talented man. His essays are still my favourites, but the Narnia Series is a classic & the Perelandria series pretty stellar (no pun intended) also!

His Poetry catches you by surprise when you realise how good it is too. I have read a fair bit of Fantasy in my life, and inevitably ever author has an Elf, Dwarf, Human or some other being break out into verse or song. Usually, fantasy authors ought to stick to prose, but Lewis is a different matter.

For your enjoyment today, I have two poems. One incredibly short, the other of middle size. The first about the natural beauty of women, the second about the heart wrenching way that loss affects all of your life.
They’re two favourites, and I suspect that many more of Lewis’ poems will come in later weeks.

(I still, for the life of me, can’t get the formatting that is clear on my screen to translate when I publish…)

**Unnamed poem.**

> Lady, a better sculptor far
> Chiselled those curves you smudge and mar,
> And God did more than lipstick can
> To justify your mouth to man.
>

**Joys that Sting**

> *Oh doe not die*, says Donne, *for I shall hate
> All women so*. How false the sentence rings.
> Women? But in a life made desolate
> It is the joys once shared that have the stings.
>
> To take the old walks alone, o not at all,
> To order one pint where I ordered two,
> To think of, and then not to make, the small
> Time-honoured joke (senseless to all but you);
>
> To laugh (oh, one’ll laught), to talk upon
> Themes that we talked upon when you were there,
> To make some poor pretence of going on,
> Be kind to one’s old friends, and seem to care,
>
> While no one (O God) through the years will say
> The simplest, common word in just your way.

——————-

I’ll not sully them by trying to explain or exegete…

A nice way to celebrate St. Patrick’s day and the ability to shoot in HD…

I’m not the most poetic individual on earth, but I have always agreed with the proverb that “[a word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2025:11&version=NIV)(1).”
I always feel that I should write poetry, but rarely ever get around to it. Likewise, I feel I ought to read it more often, but don’t usually stray beyond the shorter works of C.S. Lewis, or Robert Frost.

Last week at “priestly formation” a guest speaker brought in some of his favourite poems and he convinced me that I ought to chase down more aptly spoken words. So maybe on tuesdays, or maybe just this tuesday, I’ll share one with you. (Can any lawyers tell me if I am doing something illegal here?)

**”FIve Ways to Kill a Man” by [Edwin Brock](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Brock)**

(apologies for the lack of formatting. It’s formatted where I enter it, but not coming up on the site…)

>There are many cumbersome ways to kill a man.

> You can make him carry a plank of wood to the top of a hill and nail him to it.

> To do this properly you require a crowd of people wearing sandals, a cock that crows, a cloak
to dissect, a sponge, some vinegar and one man to hammer the nails home.

> Or you can take a length of steel, shaped and chased in a traditional way,
and attempt to pierce the metal cage he wears.

> But for this you need white horses, English trees, men with bows and arrows, at least two flags, a prince, and a castle to hold your banquet in.

> Dispensing with nobility, you may, if the wind allows, blow gas at him. But then you need a mile of mud sliced through with ditches, not to mention black boots, bomb craters, more mud, a plague of rats, a dozen songs and some round hats made of steel.

> In an age of aeroplanes, you may fly miles above your victim and dispose of him by pressing one small switch. All you then require is an ocean to separate you, two systems of government, a nation’s scientists, several factories, a psychopath and land that no-one needs for several years.

> These are, as I began, cumbersome ways to kill a man.

> Simpler, direct, and much more neat is to see that he is living somewhere in the middle of the twentieth century, and leave him there.

What do you think? What’s in the last stanza? Is it implying that we have the freedom & opportunity to look back at 2000+ years of brutal history & yet we don’t learn? Or is it pointing to unparalleled dangers in a modern society?

Either way, it’s a beautifully written poem!

(1) I Digress: I have a bit of a thing for bookmarks. Much to my beloved wife’s consternation, I had to track down a bookmark from just about every place we visited on our honeymoon. Many of them just sit in a box. Occasionally I remember to leave them in a book. I think part of my my little addiction came from the first time I ever read “[Lord of the Rings](http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-50th-Anniversary-Vol/dp/0618640150/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268716981&sr=1-3)” as a primary school kid of 11. I remember borrowing “the Fellowship of the Ring” and finding a textured card bookmark inside, with a beautiful picture of a golden apple on a silver trellis. I used that bookmark from 6th grade till I lost in in about year 10. It guided me through maybe hundreds of books during my literary golden age. I tasted and digested (and now, unfortunately, have mostly forgotten) many aptly spoken words, and that little icon came with me… What I’d give to find that book mark again! Every other bookmarks since, valuable though it maybe, laden with memories of Scottish summer days, or eating fresh bread under the Eiffel tower, are still just a poor cousin to my constant reading companion. Is it odd for me to have such a powerful connection to a piece of cardboard?