Martin's Mumbles

So long, farewell, Auf Wierderseh'n, good-bye

2009-07-09T08:28:00.002+10:00

Those who follow this blog will realise it has become a very rare occurance fo me to post - as I hinted a year ago, I tend to give a short update on Facebook most days (and these days to both Facebook and Twitter at once via Tweetdeck) - it takes a few seconds and then I'm doing other things.

If you want to follow me, register with Facebook and look for Martin Scharnke,

(or go to facebook.com/Martin.Scharnke)

or register with Twitter and look for MartinScharnke.

With both Facebook and Twitter, I will need to confirm you before you start receiving updates.

The Porpoise Driven Life

2009-05-26T07:23:00.002+10:00

This was on cyberbrethren ... oh, how good it is! I wish that all Rick Warren devotees would watch it!

The porpoise-driven life

The idolatry of a nation

2009-04-25T11:46:00.002+10:00

I know that I will ruffle feathers with this post, but here it goes ...

ANZAC day is something that I grew up with. When I was in cubs and then scouts, I participated on more than one occasion in the march in Brooklyn up to Suragloaf Hill, to the War memorial there. We prayed the Lord's Prayer and sang "Abide with me" and thanked God.

In Australia we have gone from thanking God to worshipping the dead as those who have saved us. We have discplaced Christ as the one who died to save us. We don't name God, and certainly not CHrist - it's not politically correct - it's not multi-cultural, multi-faith, relgiously inclusive.

I applaud the appropriate remembrance of sacrfice in war ... but I deplore the idolatry of the war dead. ANZAC Cove and other "sacred" sites - e.g. the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne - have become places of worship of the Australian cult, along with the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Chocolate and the time of year

2009-04-13T11:03:00.002+10:00

What is it about chocolate that brings out the worst in some people.
Why is it that some people can be so nice until they start to consume chocolate?
Why is driving under the influence of chocolate so deadly?
Why can some people not stop with one serving of chocolate, but have to have 10, or 20?

Hi. My name is Martin, and I am a chocoholic.

Photo: Mars Bar cake at Cafe Jas, Horsham (taken some weeks ago, during - shock, horror! - Lent)

Hot air despite "cooling"

2009-02-03T13:31:00.002+11:00

The cooling keeps freezing up and the room keeps heating up!

Grrr!

Chickening out

2009-01-10T14:42:00.002+11:00

Yesterday I declined the call to Crow's Nest, Queensland. Was I chickening out? I don't think so.

It was helpful to be a place where I considered the ministry that I have been privileged to lead in my current call, and to ask myself the vocational question: "which calling body needs me to love and serve them MORE at THIS moment?" Of course, family needs come into the equation, too.

Thanks to all those who have offered their prayerful support and wise counsel, and - especially - listening ears.

More call news

2009-01-03T13:29:00.002+11:00

On Saturday 27 December I was informed by Qld District President that I now had the call to Orana Aged Care in Kingaroy, Qld. So that's two calls to the same neck of the woods that I'm holding. Hmmm - that quiet post-first-day-of-Christmas time was such wishful thinking!

Call to Crow's Nest

2008-12-16T14:12:00.002+11:00

On Friday morning I was surprised to hear that I had been called to the Crow's Nest, Qld, parish. Although I had been contacted 3 weeks earlier to ask the ritual question: "Is there any reason why you are ineligible for call?," I hadn't thought much of it: I have given phone interviews and responded to questionnaires by email quite a bit this year.

I broke the news to my parish chairman on Saturday evening, and announced to my congregations after Sunday services. As yet, I haven't received documentation.

What was going to be a quiet post-Christmas week or so may no longer be so!

Cold!

2008-07-30T07:08:00.001+10:00

It's really been cold - for this part of the world at least! Several frosts have made us realise that we really are having a winter this year!

The Pinnacle of CLW

2008-07-12T20:26:00.002+10:00

Christian Life Week (CLW) Blue from 30 June to 4 July was a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding time. The setting in the Grampians, with the Pinnacle (pictured - centre of the ridge) was just part of what made it so special.

The young people who were campers, and the young leaders, were a pleasure to work with and for.

My family particularly enjoyed interacting with the camp parents, Matt & Chantelle Olsen, and their children: Paige, Sydney & Mya.

It was particularly pleasing to have 6 campers from Dimboola, after none for so many years. Maybe having me as the camp pastor was a carrot - they knew that they would know someone!

Trinitarian Theology

2008-05-17T13:53:00.002+10:00

Yesterday I had a long day - I got up at 0430, left here at 0500, drove to Melbourne for a Council for Lutheran Education in the SE Region meeting from 1000-1500, then drove home, arriving at around 2030.

I was asked in advance to lead the opening devotion for CLESER, and I chose to use some of what Marva Dawn writes in here book "Talking the Walk" on the Holy Trinity. I have previously sung the praises of this book here:

On this occasion, the necessity of the name being "Father, Son and Holy Spirit," and not some politically correct "Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier" was particularly helpfully expressed by Marva. I admire how Marva, both in her writing and in person, can be comfortable with her identity as a female sexual being, yet not jump on the feminist bandwagon of dismissing everything that has male terminology in the church as patriarchal and chauvinistic.

She writes: "to think that words for functions can distinguish the Godhead's three persons also dialectically vastly reduces the Trinity be separating the persons more than they ought to be ... In addition, to substitute functions for names diminishes God entirely by listing only three things that God does. Even more, the relationships of the persons are elided, and God is cheapened to jobs rather than elevated simply for who He is in intra-triune partnerships of unique particularity and intimate maturity." (pp 45-46).

Bad blogging ... facebook's at fault! ... Trinity again!

2008-05-10T19:24:00.003+10:00

I've not fallen off the face of the earth, merely spent the few minutes here and there on facebook rather than on blogging.

Tomorrow is Pentecost, and my current confirmation class: Benjamin Gebert, Jacqueline Gebert, Kara Lehmann, Jason Pietsch, Craig Schultz and Brydon Tischler will, DV, make their good confessions and be received into communicate membership of the LCA.

Next week is Trinity Sunday, and the whole issue of what wording of the Athanasian Creed to use will raise its head again. Last June I wrote about this here.

Back from holidays to hit the grond fast - mission festival, also.

2008-04-09T15:42:00.002+10:00

One week of annual leave from the afternoon of Sunday 30 March until the afternoon of Monday 7 April was fantastic - 5 nights tenting in very pleasant conditions, and missing all the storm weather that lashed the state of Victoria last Wednesday 2 April.

Come back from holiday, and inevitably, the number of things that are shoe-horned in to the first week back makes you long for another holiday!

Things are marginally less crazy because I have declined to go to Melbourne Thursday afternoon for a Friday CLESER meeting - I'll be available on the phone to vote to make up quorum where necessary, but I can't spare the time for travel and overnight that I would otherwise need to give.

This Sunday, an exciting mission festival - Glenice Hartwhich, Projects Officer for LCA Overseas Missions will present on the work that Pastor Simon MacKenzie is doing in Thailand, and Lutherans from across the Wimmera/Mallee zone are invited. All our offerings will support the mission work in Thailand.

This is IT!

2008-03-01T14:28:00.002+11:00

Last Thursday 21 February, in Melbourne for the Council for Lutheran Education Meeting the next day, I needed a bite to eat, and found the Pancake Parlour at the Forest Hill Chase, where I had last eaten some 10 years ago. The ultimate pancake experience, however, did not dissappoint! This is IT!

Where has he been? Busy times. Start of school.

2008-02-01T12:11:00.001+11:00

The photo of the calendar is not very legible - but it has lots of black on it. The pedal has gone to the metal, and won't be lifting much at all until Easter Sunday has been and gone on 23 March.

School started this week, which meant my daughter's first day - truly a moving rite-of-passage!

The address I gave at the opening-of-year service was based on the account of the 12-year-old Jesus in the temple from Luke 2:41-52. The relationship of the person learning to those teaching involves sitting down together, listening, and asking questions (v. 46).

Coming to school involves growing in stature and favour with God and man (v. 52). I got the shortest prep student, and stood him next to the tallest Year 6 student - the prep barely reached the waist of the Year 6. That is surely growing in stature! Yet the growing in wisdom is more than reading, writing and arithmetic. Especially in a christian school, and where our school motto is "Grow in Grace" we learn our three R's whilst experiencing and communicating further God's grace.

Wondering wither the winter weather went

2007-12-23T08:10:00.001+11:00

After some quite hot (nearly 40 degrees Celcius) weather already, Friday and yesterday -- the summer solstice -- turned to winter. Gales and heavy downpours and extreme change were the order of the day. It brought back memories of similar weather at Christmas growing up in Wellington.

Then, this morning, a cracking start to a beautiful day - crisp cool air, clear sunny skies, and a likely temperature in the mid 20s. Here's hoping that tomorrow, when I have a 6pm Christmas Eve service in Katyil, the same mild conditions are in effect!

Marva Dawn strikes again - Hallelujah!

2007-11-27T14:34:00.000+11:00

In my local Christian Bookshop (Jacob's Well, in Horsham), I discovered this book in the specials bin - for $9.95 another masterpiece from Marva Dawn. It brings together two of my passions - integrity of our witness with our professed faith, and language.

If you know the work of Lynn Truss entitled Eats, Shoots, and Leaves you will know what I mean about language and correct use of punctuation, in particular. What Dawn is on about reclaiming here is not correct punctuation, but correct usage of vocabulary that has been usurped by our society. To cite one heading, Dawn describes the word "Awesome" as a prime example of a word which has been all but lost due to describe God because of the way in which society uses it.

It's Rudd - he needs our prayer!

2007-11-25T06:27:00.001+11:00

Kevin Rudd, leader of the Australian Labor Party has secured victory in the Australia Federal Election. A swing of 5.6% against the sitting government of John Howard resulted in a clear mandate from the country for a change in government. It appears 24 of the 150 seats in the lower-house of parliament have changed hands, although some races are still very close. John Howard's own seat, Bennelong, which he has held since 1974, is likely to be one of the casualties for the Liberal / National coalition.

The Coalition has also likely lost it's majority in the 76-seat senate, with a preliminary result of 37 seats for the Coalition, and 32 for Labor, with the Greens, Family first and independents holding the balance of power.

Let us pray for the Prime Minister-elect, and for all newly-elected or re-elected Members of Parliament, and newly-elected or re-elected Senators, that they accept with humility the authority which has been given them, and govern with justice and mercy, according to Micah 6:8.

Let us pray also for outgoing-PM John Howard, and the other defeated candidates, that they accept the result of the election with grace and that they continue to find joy in their daily vocations, even where they now may face significant change.

Let us pray for all who live in Australia - even the non-voting non-citizens like me who can only be (very) interested observers, rather than participants, in the electoral process. God grant us the humility to respect, obey, love and serve those whom he has placed in authority over us.

Oh what a beautiful morning!

2007-11-18T07:18:00.000+11:00

Blue sky and some white cotton-wool. You'd never know that yesterday it felt brutally hot (even though it was only 35 Celsius or so) and dry, and that more of the same is coming today.

That 70's show!

2007-11-10T09:40:00.000+11:00

Not so long ago there screened on TV a programme entitled That 70's show. I'm reminded of that by this chair, which is either of that decade, or maybe of the early 1980s.

This is one of two chairs deemed surplus to requirements by our school, and which I grabbed eagerly as visitor chairs for the parish offices. Whilst from a point of view of fashion they may be passe, at least they are more comfortable than the stacking chairs hitherto available for visitors!

Many thanks to Saint Peter's Lutheran School!
(Oh, and also thanks to Principal Leon Kroehn, and for the small file-drawer on wheels, too!)

Rain, rain, go away?

2007-11-08T14:48:00.001+11:00

So far in November we have had more rain (37mm so far) than in all of August, September and October combined. How badly the earth has needed it. Surely we give thanks to God for the refreshing rain?

Since quite a few farmers have been making hay while the sun shines, they actually have found it not so helpful. It is to be hoped that this refreshing rain (more than 2 inches on some farms) might result in much better yields in some crops.

Tongue-in-cheek it has been said that God doesn't know what he's up to. I much prefer to remember "My ways are not your ways" and give thanks for the weather that God provides, whatever it may be.

A change as good as a holiday?

2007-10-06T10:43:00.001+10:00

Being without my secretarial help, the first week of two of the school holidays was high pressure for me, as the newsletter the Messenger needed to be published, including the calendar of events in the parish for the next two months (October and November). There is always at least one mistake in the calendar, and this time was no exception - two different persons took the time (and maybe also the pleasure?!) of pointing out an omission.

Needless to say, this second week of the school holidays hasn't been quite so full of pressure. A long overdue cleanup in my office was begin (sadly, not yet completed). I changed the furniture around, too. For nearly three years it has been in the one configuration. Unfortunately, it mean that when there was sunlight coming into the window, I needed to shut it out with blinds, or be dazzled when trying to use the computer. Consequently, it was often dark and gloomy. Fluorescent light only does so much, and the wavelengths (colour of the light) are all wrong.

Now, however, the blind can stayed pulled back and the natural daylight, and sunshine, can be relished!

It's a pleasure to be working in my new work environment! Maybe a change is as good as a holiday?

School holidays and ruts

2007-09-25T09:24:00.000+10:00

Our school students in the state of Victoria are on holiday. Consequently, all is quiet at our Saint Peter's Lutheran School. There is no school bell at 9am (and again after recess at 11:30, and after lunch at 13:45). There are no children playing to be heard from the manse before those three ringings of the school bell. There is no staff devotion at 08:25am.

Furthermore, there is no Confirmation Class on Tuesday afternoons.

Routine is different, and whilst it is helpful not to have to be out of the house before 08:30 every weekday morning for a bit, the lack of familiarity can upset the equilibrium a little.

Ruts are interesting things - on the one hand they can tend to make everything too methodical, predictable and just the same. On the other hand, they can help the wagon to steer itself!

Soldiering on

2007-09-13T10:52:00.000+10:00

In accordance with the advertisement, I am "soldiering on with Codral." Whilst in the office, I really feel like I should be in bed, but the drugs give me just enough clarity to do something, if not very well!

My GP yesterday concurred with my assessment that the flu vaccination this year just didn't cut the mustard - it hasn't provided inoculation against the strain that has knocked many people for six. Three full weeks seems to be the average duration, and I'm not about to disagree - I've had symptoms for 13 days, now. Moreover, though for the first week I did soldier on, medication alone couldn't keep me going.

Anyway, there are things to be done! Let's hope that future influenza strikes are more effectively predicted!

Passports - citizenship - here, or in heaven?

2007-08-14T09:08:00.001+10:00

I am fortunate to have dual citizenship, in New Zealand and Germany, whilst being permanently resident in Australia.

However, the time has come to renew my German passport, and while I do so I am also applying for a passport for my daughter Maria. What would be relatively straight-forward if one lived within an hour of Melbourne becomes a rather big expedition. Already I have spent some time wrangling with the Australian Immigration Department to document my status here. Now, armed with this, and getting photos done to a very complex set of requirements, we will present ourselves in person at the Consulate-General in Melbourne on Friday.

It is worth all the effort, however. Having lived and worked in Europe, I have enjoyed the freedom of being able to go anywhere in the EU, and be allowed to live and work there, holding an EU passport. That will also be Maria's privilege as a German citizen.

Of course my citizenship is truly a heavenly one - we are but sojourners here on earth.

Study day inspirational

2007-08-01T11:20:00.001+10:00

District Study Day in Ballarat was a success - about 100 were there.

It was encouraging to see so many in the Lutheran Confessions course, so ably instructed by Pastor Fraser Peace. Especially those who obviously were coming with a Reformed theology background, and wanted to understand why we teach as we do.

District Study Day

2007-07-19T14:30:00.001+10:00

In lieu of a District Convention (held only in even years) and General Convention of Synod (three-yearly, last held in 2006), this year a District Gathering has been organised by offering micro-subjects from Lutheran School of Theology.

Our whole family is looking forward to going, because it is only those that want to be at events like these that go, so we can be sure of meeting plenty of folk from around Victoria who want to meet with others in the church, worship together, eat together, and study together.

I'm not sure how well enrolments have been going ... it strikes me that attendance may be fairly low. Ballarat, in the middle of winter, with snow reported there at the beginning of this week - it doesn't sound very inviting!

I reckon it'll be great, even if we manage only 40 or 50 participants all up.

The Good Samaritan ... where are we?

2007-07-11T17:00:00.001+10:00

The Gospel for this Sunday, Luke 10:25-37, is a rich place to mine. Even before we get to the familiar parable, the exchange between the expert in the law and the young upstart Rabbi Jesus is full of tension. For Jesus to turn the question back on the law expert, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" is both a chance for the expert to show off, and a trap. Jesus responds to him (how condescendlingly!) "You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live."

The whole idea of the expert in the law wanting to justify himself is another sermon in itself. We are not justified by our works, but the expert didn't get it. He wanted to show off his knowledge about different Rabbinical traditions as to what constituted a neighbour. And Jesus actually doesn't answer his question. Instead of an opinion on who would have status of neighbour (factual information), Jesus asks who acted as neighbour (action).

Again, "Go and do likewise" would have had the law expert spluttering with indignation! To be thus humiliated in front of other people!

It's helpful, too, with every parable, to ask, "Where are we?" We'd like to think that we're not like the priest or Levite, and rather like the Good Samaritan. Of course, first and foremost we are the poor wretch who is left half-dead on the road. It is only when we understand this Law message that we can appreciate the gospel, and the gospel imperative to bear fruit in doing good - by going and doing likewise.

FWIW.

Adrelanalin, dark chocolate , coffee, or ?

2007-07-05T13:28:00.000+10:00

Is it these three or the power of God's Word "when I am weak, then I am strong" that keeps me go, go, going from when someone dies until when the funeral and the wake are over?

In my 7 and then some years of ministry, I have never failed to have the strength - emotionally, physically, or spiritually - to be there for family, compassionately listening, or organising the myriad of details, or preparing myself for the task of preaching to the congregation at the funeral, many of whom are seldom seen at other times. Feedback I get tells me that I have always been a helpful presence - in persona Christi.

However, inevitably, I pay the price afterwards, and my body needs lots of recovery. Now, with a funeral in just under half an hour, I find myself in some trepidation of the bottom of the rollercoaster.

Do any other clergy who read this have similar experiences?

The Gerasene Demoniac

2007-06-24T07:54:00.000+10:00

Today's Gospel is a great one for those who identify with "before and after" pictures:

Weight-loss programmes (note the proper spelling!) a la Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers
Home / garden transformations a la Changing Rooms, Backyard Blitz
Political advertising (Hey, this is an election year!)
Naked, Demon-possessed, tomb-living man becomes clothed, sane, man at Jesus' feet.

It's a great Law / Gospel vehicle, but there's a strong Gospel imperative once again. Last week, the devotion of the woman "who had led a sinful life" gave a very strong challenge - how much do we love? This week, "Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you" (Lk 8:39) is similarly inviting response.

If we are not daily, even continuously, singing Psalms of praise and thanksgiving to declare how much God has done for us, can we really claim to be cleaned and saved?

Mythical MythTV

2007-06-16T15:02:00.000+10:00

At this point in time, the Myth box has become unreality, not even myth!

Reasons:
1. The cheap card I have doesn't encode, so I don't really have enough grunt in the processor (450-MHz PIII) to adequately use it as a PVR
2. The Electronic Program Guide is not likely to work well, because of Australian free-to-air tv copyrighting of programming information.

However, I can (and do) have a small window (relative to my 1600x1200 desktop on a 21 inch CRT) with live TV from time to time. This is, of course, at home, in the home office, not here at work, in the church office.

At some future stage, a Haupage PVR card with twin digital TV tuners and encoders is a nice dream!

Face To Face

2007-06-10T08:07:00.000+10:00

Lutheran Media Ministry's Face To Face is no longer heard on Sunday mornings on our local radio station. But 30-second and 1-minute spots are much more frequent and often heard at the top of the hour when people tune in to catch the news or weather.

The ability to get the programme via podcast or merely to download the audio (or text) or to listen live is great.

My only reservation is the elderly, especially the lonely and shut-in, who hitherto have been able to listen, and may now be excluded because they have no PC with internet connection.

Luke 7:11-17 - life and death

2007-06-10T07:39:00.000+10:00

Whilst wrestling with this text during the course of the week I often found myself caught in the question that some of those who hear the text may reasonably ask: "Why didn't Jesus stop the funeral procession and bring to life my son/daughter/husband/wife/father/mother?"

Yet for each individual, the impact of the text is properly not so much my loved one is dead - for almost everyone alive can say that - but I am dead.

Understood this way, the Gospel message is not of Jeus raising a loved one, but raising us!

Back from Continuing Education

2007-06-08T12:29:00.000+10:00

For those of my parishioners who follow my travels, you will know that I've been in Melbourne Tuesday-Thursday this week at the District Continuing Education for Pastors / Lay Workers.

While the presenters were engaging, the most memorable elements of the three days for me had to do with our worship in the chapel (very sensitively planned and led- three cheers to Stephen Pietsch & Sue Westhorp) and the heating at Holy Cross centre (too hot and dry, resulting in dehydration, headaches, and drowsiness).

Then again, the late nights augmented with port probably didn't help the drowsiness, either!

Later.

Tainted Trinitarian Thelology Trouble

2007-06-02T13:39:00.001+10:00

Tomorrow being Trinity Sunday, or The Feast of The Holy Trinity I have considered most of this week the state of Trinitarian Theology. On Wednesday morning I used a school drama resource to show the school staff at the devotion I lead how easy it is to fall into a modalistic heresy. Then, also Wednesday, I led the Pastors in the Wimmera/Mallee Zone in confessing the Athanasian Creed.

Hitherto, I have always used the Athanasian Creed on Trinity Sunday in its entirety. I note with some concern, however, that our own LCA Worship Resources encourage the ommission of parts pf the Creed if used during a divine service. The bits to be missed - those that condemn unbelief in what is confessed in the creed.

It seems akin to the Revised Common Lectionary skipping over verses in the Psalms that damn evildoers, or skipping Revelation 22:18-19, and thus ironically fulfilling them.

The Trinitarian Theology we have is the result of much labour to avoid heresy - to incautiously cast some of it aside is to flirt with disaster.

The West Wing

2007-05-27T08:28:00.001+10:00

For those who don't already know, I am a West Wing tragic. I was very grateful that Fraser Peace told me about seasons 1-5 being on sale on DVD at K-Mart a few weeks back.

Recently, Toni & I watched again the episode "Noel" which is entirely about Josh (deputy Chief of Staff) and his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, as a result of being in a shooting incident at the end of Season 1.

There's a great quote from that episode. After Josh has spent the whole of December 24 with the traumatologist, he meets his immediate superior, Chief of Staff Leo McGarry. Leo tells him:

This guy's walking down a street, when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep. He can't get out. A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up "Hey you! Can you help me out?" The doctor writes him a prescription, throws it down the hole and moves on. Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up "Father, I'm down in this hole, can you help me out?" The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. "Hey Joe, it's me, can you help me out?" And the friend jumps in the hole! Our guy says "Are you stupid? Now we're both down here!" and the friend says, "Yeah, but I've been down here before, and I know the way out."

Spencer Street, oops, Southern Cross

2007-05-27T08:11:00.000+10:00

The new regional and inter-state rail terminal, not quite complete in time for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, is now 100% up and running, and it's quite a facility.

Regional / inter-state trains are on the first 7 or 8 platforms, many on the fancy new V-locity trains (ugh - the spelling!) like the one in the centre.

Suburban trains start at platform 9 (I think) - you can see a train stationary at platform 10 to the left of the escalators.

The famous "wave-roof" design can be seen overhead, and the amount of natural daylight is good. I can also attest that the licensed bar next to the food court does good counter meals - a fettucine carbonara and a glass of house wine for $9.95 was very nice.

This was taken on my last trip to Melbourne, Thursday 17 May.

Parking Restrictions

2007-05-23T23:02:00.001+10:00

This has appeared in The Age - Melbourne's superior daily newspaper. When it did I recognised the sign because I had been past it before. On stopping there in the bus on the way to Melbourne last Thursday, I snapped the sign with my phone - it is just remarkable!

Myth Box

2007-05-10T11:57:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I installed the Edgy Eft (6.10 - i.e. October 2006) version of Ubuntu on my Pentium-III-450 box with the TV tuner. It's the first time I have seriously tried to use Ubuntu and I am very pleased - it has a much smaller memory footprint than SUSE of Mandrake cum Mandriva.

I managed to configure networking without too much hassle - my Celeron-600 box which runs OpenSuSE 10.1 acts as a router to my internal network. Then I got repositories loaded up and managed to get synaptic to download and install most myth components. It fell over at mySQL database configuration time, however.

Still, although there will be some tweaking to get myth configuration even up and running, I am very impressed with Ubuntu.

I've also got a mind to try out Kubuntu again (I gave it a brief look back when Ubuntu first came out). That's because I've always preferred KDE to Gnome (still do). At present, the Feisty Fawn (7.04) CD version of that is downloading in the background.

Root Canal - endgame!

2007-05-10T11:51:00.000+10:00

Last Thursday I had an x-ray followed by the replacement of my temporary filling to finally complete the root-canal procedure that was started last year. It was odd to be drilled in with no pain-blocking injection, and no pain either. The price of $176 just for that day's work brings the total to almost $1000. Ouch! No pain in the tooth now, but plenty in the bank account!

myth box

2007-04-20T08:22:00.000+10:00

MythTv is a complicated beast - there are at least 40 software packages that need to be installed.

Having done that, I have discovered that although there is a myth-setup program, you need to first find some obscure documentation that tells you to run a script to establish an initial SQL database. Now, I knew that an SQL database was used, so the cryptic console messages were not all that cryptic. Nevertheless, it took a bit of finding to locate the script, and without detailed instructions on how to invoke it, and with which options, I would have been all at sea.

That done, I was able to run the setup program, and input the tv channels according to my previous experimentation.

However I can't get a picture. I can still run kdetv and watch no problem, but for some reason Myth is not reading the tuner card correctly.

Moreover, since re-booting, I can't start the myth backend anymore - a permissions problem, I think.

There is part of me that thinks that this geek-ish project is deliberately hard to implement - a sort of geekiness test. If you can't do lots of tweaking and configuring of scripts and config files manually, don't bother applying!

No time for more now.

How holy does he have to habitually hanker for?

2007-04-04T09:34:00.000+10:00

Holiness is a strange concept - the idea of being set apart, different, special.

Yet after my post yesterday on Holy week, I spent a large part of the day in activity, whilst holy-seeming, also could be seen as pretty mundane and ordinary.

One of the things that occupies me for not a little amount of time every week is the selection of hymns and Psalm settings. This is because I hope to underscore the message of the sermon helpfully with hymnody. Hymnody often is more memorable than Martin mumbling, even if from the pulpit.

Multiply that by three - for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter services - and then throw into the mix a brass quartet who don't like playing music in sharps (2 sharps in concert pitch becomes 4 sharps transposed for a B flat instrument) not to mention not wanting to have to transpose new pieces, and that puts a very limiting influence on the choices you can make.

Making those choices whilst considering the most helpful hymnody for the particular sermon texts and allowing for the vagaries of musicians' repertoire has resulted in a lengthy day (yesterday) of seemingly mundane work.

But it is also holy work, because it has to do with holy things - the preaching of God's Word and the administration of the Sacrament. Therefore it is worth the effort to do it well, even if it seem mundane.

Holiness. Yes, a strange concept!

Holy Week

2007-04-03T09:49:00.000+10:00

We call this holy week, but what is holy about it?

* Is it the holy - days that schools are having?
* Is it the holy - days that business has closing on Friday and next
Monday?
* Is it the holy food that has been marketed since January -
chocolate eggs, bunnies, and other shapes?
* Is it the holy food that avoids the shame of the name "cross" by
being labelled "Easter buns"?
* Is if the holy presence of a family get-together?
* Is it the holy 4-day weekend for people who want to go camping,
watch football live, or similar?

It is none of these. These days are holy, set-apart, because on them we
remember, and to some extent, re-enact, the events which brought about
our salvation.

* In Dimboola, we shall re-enact the institution of the Lord's
Supper, as we do at every Eucharistic Service, saying, "Our Lord Jesus
Christ, on the night when he was betrayed ..."

* In Dimboola, we shall re-enact the passion, as told by Saint John
in chapters 18 and 19.

* In Dimboola, we shall mark the stations of the cross in the main
street, not as historicity, but as a useful exercise in personal piety
and devotion.

* In Dimboola, we shall move from a firelit vigil to a dawn-breaking
celebration of Easter - the vindication of the one tried at a kangaroo
court and tortured and executed for no crime.

That makes it holy.

mythTV - it's all a myth

2007-03-29T09:16:00.001+10:00

It's all a myth that I've been working on a myth box!

I see in my (now) penultimate posting that I promised I would "in my next post" talk about the joys (few of these) and hassles (many of these) in trying to get a myth box up. As you may gather from the last post about musical pulpits, time hasn't been a luxury I have had very much of!

Maybe after Easter has been and gone.

No more musical pulpits!

2007-03-29T09:11:00.000+10:00

After 5 Wednesday nights in Lent in different churches, I am rather glad that our "musical pulpits" is at an end for this year.

In the Wimmera / Mallee zone of Victoria, there has been a tradition of each pastor writing one lenten sermon and giving that address 5 times in five congregations different from his own. This introduces the pastor to other congregations and buildings, and the people get to meet the pastor for elsewhere in the zone. It also brings a freshness in change of preaching style, for example.

The advantages are obvious, but the cost is also apparent: the pastors who need to travel some distances late in the evening. After 5 weeks of it, the toll is starting to show. Not that I've had great distances this year - with the exception of last night, all my journeys were at most 35 minutes long one-way, last night being about 60 minutes one-way.

I do wish to be able to do lent in the way I did in my previous parish:
*   Instead of 4 hymns and at least 45 minutes long (otherwise people felt cheated), 2 hymns and maybe 30 minutes
*   Instead of driving every which way, journey time is measured in walking from the manse to the church
*   Instead of delivering the same general message 5 times, getting to move through lent with my flock

Ah well, maybe next year!

MythTV

2007-03-09T11:23:00.000+11:00

Any spare time I've had to myself (generally late evening after the rest of the house is in bed) I have been using on my current hobby project - a MytHTV box.

MythTV is a software package that turns a PC with a TV tuner card into the mythical convergence box - TV, recorder, web browser, you name it.

The snag is, it's incredibly complex. Many have written blogs of their experiences in trying to get it to work.

I picked up a cheap tuner card (analogue TV only) in January, and have installed it in a Pentium-III system @ 450 MHz with 256MB RAM - a fairly modest configuration.

I can tune in TV fine, now that I have crawled under floorboards to run coax antenna lead from the booster under th elounge to the other end of the house where my home office is. Recording it and getting MythTV up is another matter. And getting the remote control working is the hoped-for light at the end of a very long tunnel.

I'm off to another home now to bring a shut-in Holy Communion. Next posting I'll mention some of the difficulties with MythTV.

Giving something up for Lent?

2007-02-25T07:13:00.001+11:00

On our last week of holiday, my wife asked me whether I would give something up for Lent: to wit, she asked me would I give up chocolate.

Noooooo!

I just can't do it! Nor can I the other suggestion: coffee. It's precisely the busy-ness of this time of year that require me to dose up on caffeine just to survive!

Of course, the whole point of giving something up as part of your Lenten self-discipline is that it should be a discipline. I can give away smoking easily enough - I've never smoked. We hardly have alcohol in the house, so I can give away drinking alcohol (except HC on Sundays) easily enough. Neither of these is a discipline for me, though.

Maybe I should give up chocolate for Lent - I haven't had any yet. Oops, yes I have! A bus in Ararat nearly hit our car on Friday night - the driver failed to give way as he pulled out from the Railway Station. Toni insisted on buying me a chocolate bar (Snickers) after that, while I fueled up the car.

So what will I give up for Lent?

Suggestions welcome, especially from those who know me well!

Busy times!

2007-02-25T07:05:00.000+11:00

After returning from three weeks holidays, a lovely, refreshing break, a very busy week

A funeral to attend (not conduct) on my first day back, coinciding with the car receiving a major service (among other things new titanium plugs - 6 for $75, new brake fluid, and new transaxle fluid, as well as the more pedestrian engine oil, oil filter air filter etc) for starters. Also the first day of 4-year-old kindergarten. Last year, one day a week (Wednesday) for 2.5 hours. This year, 2 days a week from 0845-1345.

Ash Wednesday brought a meeting with the school principal at 8am, a Bible Study at 10am, a HC service at 11am, a Guild Bible Study at 1:30pm, a wedding rehearsal at 6:30pm, and the main HC service at 7:30pm. After getting away from that, more time in the office until just after 10pm.

Thursday a hoped-for 8am departure became 0837, and I arrived at around 1315 in Box Hill, Melbourne for the first of my meetings - Australia Lutheran School Pastors / Chaplains Conference planning group. The conference is in September. A night in a motel, followed by the Council for Lutheran Education in the South East Region (CLESER) meeting on Friday. Traffic getting out of Melbourne late Friday not pleasant. What with stopping for a meal in Ballarat on the way home, it was almost 2200 before arriving back.

Saturday (yesterday) the wedding was on at 4pm. Before that, the typing of the reports for the Katyil AGM (the person who was doing it has had her PC succumb to a trojan attack and is still unusable), the modifying and duplication of the Bulletin (my secretary did all the work, I just had a couple of updates), and then I managed to set off the burglar alarm at the school when going off to duplicate it.

After the wedding, checking off that I had dotted all the i's for the government regulations of the Marriage Act, before joining the reception a little after 6pm.

Today it's the parish AGM after a 9am HC service in Katyil. Next week it's Dimboola's AGM, the week after, Katyil. This afternoon I need to do a little visiting, before a much-needed day off tomorrow.

Root Canal, Part III

2007-01-27T17:15:00.000+11:00

The dentist finally finished the root-canal on Thursday just gone. He told me I had very good nerves, because anaesthetic notwithstanding, they were very touchy! However he finally managed to remove all the sensitive material and fill in the canals. One more visit to fill the crown, replacing the temporary filling, but not until May - what a waiting list!

The heart-attack came (figuratively speaking) when I as asked whether I wanted to take the account or pay straight away - I just handed over the credit card and was stunned to hear $775 was being charged to it. Ouch! No more dental work this year - my insurance must be maxed out.

Holidays? Yes, ... but!

2007-01-27T15:46:00.000+11:00

Starting on Monday I commence three weeks of annual leave, and we are going on holiday as a family, tenting. That will be an adventure. Hopefully, we won't miss the comforts of home too much!

The snag is, in this calling (as also in some others, I concede) the work that would ordinarily be done whilst away gets crammed into the time before and the time after. So although you do get your time off, it is a much-needed break after the flurry of getting so many extra things organised in advance!

Before I return I have three AGM report deadlines - hence, the reports need to be submitted before we go.

I return to work on the morning of 20 February - Shrove Tuesday. This means that Ash Wednesday services (2 of them 11am and 7:30pm) need to be arranged in advance.

Statistics are due in by the end of February, but I will hit the ground running very fast when I return, so I'm getting those in before I knock off tomorrow, too.

Holidays? Yes, .. but!

Coming Out!

2007-01-10T12:02:00.001+11:00

Yes, I'm coming out of the closet, telling all!

No, it has nothing to do with my orientation (sexual), but everything to do with my orientation (technological).

I have hitherto been a closet-disciple, but I shall now be somewhat more militant.

I'm into Linux (pronunciation: "linen" -"en" + "ex")

Having for some years experimented, and for more than 12 months banished non-linux Operating Systems at home (including the beast from Micros**t - Windows), I am now going on a crusade! Well, maybe not a crusade (that would suggest under the banner of the cross, which is a very Lutheran motto, yes, but not the maiming and killing bit).

During the Black Death, the cry "Bring out your dead!" was heard. Well, I'd like to cry "bring out your locked-in, expensive, bug-ridden, security-poor, resource-gobbling monolithic operating systems!"

Root Canal Part II

2007-01-10T11:56:00.001+11:00

Yesterday, some two months after Part I, my dentist continued on the root canal work. The one canal (of three in this molar) is badly inflamed. The dentist assures me that 90% of root canal doesn't cause pain but I drew the short straw - despite gallons (it seems!) of local anaesthetic, when he actually probed down that canal it hurt more than a little. On one occasion I literally jumped up with my whole body - quite a feat when you lying horizontally on a dentist's chair, a clamp over the tooth and a sharp instrument in the dentist's hand!

More bark!

2007-01-05T17:04:00.000+11:00

Here's another view of the tree and bark.

Bark, bark!

2007-01-05T16:56:00.000+11:00

Check out this bark on a tree in the Hamilton, VIC, Botanic Gardens!

Christ is born!

2006-12-25T06:12:00.000+11:00

Our rather ambitious razzle-dazzle sense-filled Christmas Story went off last night, almost without a hitch.

After not enough sleep (maybe 6 hours) I'm in the office again, preparing for Christmas Day service.

Then it's a bit of well-earned R & R for a couple of days.

Sense-filled Christmas story

2006-12-24T13:57:00.001+11:00

Tonight we are telling the Christmas Story as a parish in the Dimboola church, because it is large enough (seats 300-350).

What a lot of people don't know is that it won't be the traditional nativity play.

We've blacked out the windows, and all the lights will be off except a few around the altar.

We'll burn frankincense, play recorded music, and have visuals on the screen to accompany the five themes:
fire, incense, the morning, metal, the night sky shines.

As well, there is an object for each theme - a "fire" of coloured cellophane with a torch; a bowl, supposedly containing incense; a picture of a sunrise, a sword, and a reproduction of Van Gogh's Starry Night.

On arriving, each worshipper will receive not a service order, but a book-mark which has on it these five objects/symbols, including a piece of tinfoil around one corner as a tactile thing. On it is also printed “This very day in King David’s home town a Saviour was born for you. He is Christ the Lord ... Praise God in heaven! Peace on earth to everyone who pleases God.” Luke 2:11, 14

We hope that having something for four of the five senses (just not taste), plus a visual/tactile reminder to take home, will help to retain this message for the people.

Christ is born! Let us rejoice and be glad! A blessed mass of Christ to you all.

wither the weather?

2006-12-12T15:18:00.001+11:00

After a scorching weekend - temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s, we shivered yesterday (Monday) with barely 25 degrees. It promises to be warmer again - up to 37 or so this week.

The scent of chocolate

2006-12-04T10:24:00.001+11:00

Why is the smell of chocolate so enticing?

I have a block of Old Gold (Dark chocolate) open on my desk some 50 or 60cm from my nose as I type. The wafting bitter/sweet aroma was too much for me. With respect to chocolate, it seems the byword is "Lead me into temptation!"

Maybe this is why, when the pack is sealed closed I don't tend to go for it, but the moment it is open I keep going for one piece more!

Musing on a Monday on Martin's Mumbles.

2006-12-04T10:19:00.001+11:00

It's been a full-on time - a baptism yesterday morning in Katyil meant some extra organising. Also, last night the ecumenical telling of the Christmas story in the closed-off main street of Dimboola (Lloyd Street).

I'm posting on Monday, unusually, because we have a funeral this week of a man who died quite suddenly. He was here just last Sunday at the confirmation of one his grandchildren. Just as our Lord Jesus warned us in yesterday's Gospel - we must stay awake, lest we be caught off-guard.

Advent already!

2006-11-29T09:24:00.000+11:00

Although the first Sunday in Advent doesn't fall until 3 December this year - as late as it can fall, this evening is the first of 4 Wednesdays leading up to Christmas when the churches in Dimboola have ecumenical services of the Word to mark Advent. This year, the Lutherans are first cab off the rank, and we get to do Advent before the first Sunday in Advent!

The Scripture readings for the first Sunday in Advent tend to bridge the idea of the coming Christ as judge and king (that the last couple of weeks have emphasized) to the coming Christ as the baby in the manger in Bethlehem. To get into the right frame-of-mind ("O how shall I receive thee?") we need to identify the coming babe in the manger as the lord of the universe. Only then are we ready to hear the words of the Baptist (next week) and so on, building our anticipation until we get to the festival that is Christmas.

A trip to the beach

2006-11-29T09:20:00.000+11:00

As I had the day off yesterday, and 36 degrees were forecast for Horsham, and rule-of-thumb says add 2 degrees to that for Dimboola, we drove down to the coast. A Picnic lunch in Hamilton, some 2 hours drive from here, under a shady sequoia in the botanical gardens, and then arriving at about 2pm in Warrnambool.

Although we went prepared to swim, the icy-cool breeze was sufficient to make it unpleasant even just to stand on the beach.

A few hours in a tourist town including an early tea at La Porchetta was a great little break, and we got back to Dimboola by about 8:40pm.

Fires, Power outages, wind! (not quite earth, wind and fire!)

2006-11-22T12:28:00.000+11:00

After a busy week - including the aforementioned trip to Melbourne and back, and the Bothe reunion here in Dimboola Saturday and Sunday, we headed out Monday for our usual Monday-Tuesday janut up-country. We left evaporative cooling ticking over on low speed, because the temperature was already well into the 30s by mid-morning.

We came home to smoke haze, 100km/h gusts and a power-outage. Fortunately the power was only off for 90 minutes or so. The smoke came from a largish fire near Goroke - some 40km away from here, the other side of the Little Desert National Park.

Since then, the power came back on, and a cool change came through. The temperature dropped from mid 30s to 16 by 19:30 or so, and we had an overnight low of around 11 degrees.

The wind gusts left their mark, however. One tree in the church yard split right down the trunk, and will have to get the chop. Another lost a major limb. A tree at the school was blown out of the ground roots and all, and several limbs from other trees came down. We hope that all these will be dealt with by day's end.

A long day on the road coming up.

2006-11-15T09:17:00.000+11:00

On Friday this week I'm off to Melbourne as part of wearing my Council for Lutheran Education (South East Region) hat.

Last year, I flew to Brisbane and attended the National School Pastors' Conference hosted by CLE (Qld). This biennual event will be hosted by the SE Region in 2007 and the planning group meet this Friday at Box Hill. Also, I'm planning to take with me a parishioner whose daughter is in the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

So, the plan is to leave at 5:30 or so, get to Box Hill by 10am, leave by 2pm or so, and be back in Dimboola by dinner time or thereabouts.

2006-11-10T10:03:00.000+11:00

Q. What is the difference between an alpaca (pictured) and a backpacker?

A. One is shaggy, unkempt and smelly, and the other looks a lot like a llama.

(Credit / Apologies to S J Pietsch)

The widow's mite

2006-11-10T09:48:00.000+11:00

This coming Sunday the Gospel reading is Mark 12:38-44, including the account of the widow's mite. In this time of drought (the hundred-year drought, possibly), it seems hard to hear about giving - not from spare change, but generously.

In fact, it is precisely in these hard times that we need to be reminded of our right attitude towards money and possessions - the temptation to claim things as "mine" and give God from the spare change is much greater. This text can help jolt us back to the reality that all that we have comes from God.

The OT reading for Sunday is topical, too - it talks about the three and a half year drought in the time of Elijah the Prophet (I Kings 17:8-16) Elijah asked the widow of Zara-thingummy to make him some bread with the remains of her flour and oil, and promised that neither the oil nor the flour would run out until the drought broke. And they didn't.

Sometimes, when things look like they are running low, and we are tempted to hoard, we need to remember that God looks after even the sparrows, so surely he will look after us!

The dreaded root-canal!

2006-11-01T17:04:00.000+11:00

The dentist opined that all my trouble was not wisdom-tooth related, but rather an infection in the nerve canal of a back molar which has been filled more than once (and which fillings have crumbled more than once).

He started the root-canal process today and extracted an infected nerve and inserted a temporary filling with antibiotic to calm the infection.

My face feels like it should hit things 10 or more centimetres beyond me, after all the anesthetic he injected into me!

Waiting lists being what they are, I have two appointments in January to finish the job off.

All Saints

2006-11-01T12:33:00.000+11:00

Today - 1 November is All Saints Day. The reason that the day before is called Halloween is to do with it being the Eve (preceding day) of the Hallowed Day, much like December 24 is the Eve of Christmas.

In the church, many places will celebrate the Feast of All Saints on Sunday, when we remember with thanksgiving those who have gone before us to joint the heavenly throng during the past year. They are no longer part of the church militant (fighting it out with sin, death and the devil here on earth), but part of the church triumphant (having conquered sin, death and the devil).

Educate all your trick-or-treating friends!

Birthday changes

2006-11-01T12:08:00.000+11:00

I forgot to mention that I didn't celebrate my birthday alone. My daughter was so upset at Daddy not being there for his birthday that I rang the motel and upgraded the room to a family unit.

Before we left Dimboola, the school staff gave me a cake and sang Happy Birthday to me.

At the CLESER dinner, my birthday was also acknowledged, and the administrator kindly offered to repay the extra tariff that I had paid for the room upgrade.

After my CLESER meeting on Friday (during which my wife & daughter drove to the Healseville Native Animal Sanctuary and back) we headed home. We stopped in Ballarat on the way for a birthday tea at La Porchetta.

When we got home to Dimboola (about 9pm) I blew out my candles and we had some birthday cake.

A different sort of birthday!

Virus ... stay home ... teeth!

2006-11-01T11:55:00.000+11:00

This week a nasty cold virus hit hard and so we didn't make our regular pilgrimage to Ballarat on Monday, returning Tuesday, but did have a phone consultation.

A side effect of the virus seems to have been my swollen glands pushing against my wisdom teeth, causing dreadful nervous pain - think of a long bolt from above the temple, just inside the face, past the front of the ear, and down to the point of the jawbone on the right side, with a nut on the end being constantly tightened.

Paracetamol, and codeine every 4 hours help, but I've found myself counting the minutes until I can take the next dose. So I am lucky enough to have gotten into the dentist at 3pm this afternoon. We'll see what sort of treatment is ordered.!

A busy week

2006-10-25T10:03:00.000+10:00

Just back on deck after Monday-Tuesday away as usual, and in a day-and-a-half I'm off again - this time to Melbourne for the Council for Lutheran Education in the South East Region (CLESER) dinner and meeting. The dinner happens on the night beforfe the last meeting of the year.

What complicates things is that it is also my 38th birthday on Friday, and my wife and daughter would dearly like me to be at home. If I'm lucky enough to be able to leave the meeting by 3pm, I should be home for a late dinner at 7pm or so.

Later today I am opening the Dimboola Hospital Show with a prayer and a blessing, so I had to have a clerical shirt ironed - which my wife kindly did for me this morning.

On Sunday we note the Reformation (viva Luther!) and we have children from our St Peter's Lutheran School participating by reading the lessons and putting on a short dramatic sketch.

To cap it all off, it's been two months since the Messenger- our newsletter - has gone out, and needs to be published before Sunday.

It's going to be quite a week!

Cabin was OK - not fantastic

2006-10-18T12:34:00.000+10:00

The particular cabin we were in this week certainly took a lot less time to set up - it was all constructed on our arrival (unlike a tent!) However the mattress wasn't as good as the one at home - you certainly do sleep best in your own bed.

It was good not to have to air sleeping bags, clean, dry and fold a tent before heading out the next morning, however.

Moreover, Blood on the Southern Cross was almost inaudible, thanks to having thicker-than-canvas walls around us.

It was still cold - it got down to 0 degrees Celcius.

Back in the parish, it's Dimboola Show Day this Saturday, but I have a wedding at 3pm, so I shan't be able to go.

A cabin this time!

2006-10-14T09:55:00.000+10:00

Definitely a cabin - the lure of a comfy inner-spring and solid walls is too great!

One thing that I didn't mention - in a tent you can very clearly hear the sound and light show from Sovereign Hill "Blood on the Southern Cross." It's a great show - I saw it on 31 May when at a conference, but hearing it - twice a night - when trying to sleep is less great.

Tenting pics

2006-10-13T09:39:00.000+10:00

Here's a pic of our tent site - the tent has a 3.2x2.2m dome, with a 2.2x2.2m entrance.

[Actually, I must have remembered wrong - it's more like 3.8x2.8m with 2.8x2.8 entrance - total floor area is then just under 18.5 square metres]

Tenting again

2006-10-11T08:29:00.000+10:00

Did I say brave last time? Whereas last week we temperatures in the mid 20s (Celcius) and Maria and I even went swimming in the outdoor pool, we had a very chilly two nights this time.

We arrived at 17:30 and set up camp in a bitterly cold breeze. What with inflating air mattresses and all it took nearly two hours. Maybe we need to get an electric pump! Two nights of below zero temperatures and the day in between only a maximum of 15 - it was decidedly not the weather for light pyjamas and T-shirts!

We struck camp on Tuesday morning (10th October), and managed to get everything aired, dry and into the car just before 9am, which was quite a feat.

Next week? A cabin or a tent-site? There are times we favour the one, times the other. But after a good night's sleep on an inner-spring mattress, rather than a sleeping bag on an air mattress, I'm leaning back to the cabin!

Going Tenting

2006-10-08T08:11:00.000+10:00

We're going away for an appointment near Ballarat on Tuesday morning,
and since we couldn't get a cabin in the caravan park as usual, we are
going to be brave and spend a couple of nights in a tent instead. For
everything there is a first time!

2006-10-08T07:45:00.000+10:00

This is the only photo of me I could easily locate - it was taken when getting newspaper publicity for the 25th Anniversary of the St Peter's Lutheran Church building in Dimboola, in 2005.