5 Things I'm Grateful for in Kojonup

It’s harder to go from more to less than it is to go from less to more. After coming from a much smaller community, these things seem like novelties:

1. Two supermarkets
2. An ATM
3. Several cafes
4. A sports store
5. A pharmacy

Quote of the Day

I must be living under a rock or just not watching enough TV because I had no idea until two days ago that Elizabeth Taylor died last week.  In her youth, she was one of the most strikingly beautiful young girls in the world.  Here's a quote from one of my favourite movies of all time, and the one that made her a star.

That'll be a dispute to the end of time, Mr Brown: whether it's better to do the right thing for the wrong reason or the wrong thing for the right reason.

– Mrs Brown (Anne Revere) in National Velvet.

The Votes Are In

Only five people voted in my poll....five.  I think I'm going to cry :(

But seriously thank you to those five.  The results are in and I was somewhat surprised as some posts I didn't think would score anything got a vote, and others I thought would attract votes ended up being voteless.

There was a seven-way tie (voters could vote for more than one post):

Marriage 101: Date Night
The Pendulum: Predestination and Free Will
Don't Worry Your Life Away
Not When, But If
Friday Focus: But Even If He Does Not
Sarah Wants Her Groove Back
Fakebook

Henpecked

My poor Russell rooster has had no bum feathers for months and months now (way before we moved).  The hens keep pecking them out and I have no idea how to stop them.  He just lets them peck them out.  I reckon he should peck them right back, but he's so compliant.  Now I know where the term 'henpecked' comes from, the poor bloke.

My dad met him for the first time last month and asked, "What's that?  A new breed of bare-arsed rooster?"

There seems to be lots of remedies out there on the net, but since I don't have net access at home yet, I would like to hear from anyone who has any tried and successful cures.

Any chicken experts out there?

The Residents of Cluckingham Palace

I would like to extend a big welcome to:

Florentine
Omelette
Eggnog
Shelley
Clementine
Gwendoline (aka Gwen the Hen)
Gloria
Rose (in honour of my Nan who loved chooks)

We wanted four hens to replace the ones we lost. The handyman, who has been working on our house, gave us eight. We’ll never be short of eggs now.

Yes, I can tell my birds apart. The first four girls have white bands on their ankles. The next three have pink ones. Rose doesn’t have any.

Russell Crowe is enjoying have many wives…except when they peck his bum (which is another story).

Princess Layer does NOT like the newcomers. They peck her and she has had to deal with other girls stealing her rooster’s attention. When I feed them she follows me around everywhere and tells me about it. I think she considers herself to be my special hen.

Here’s a group photo:

They were very happy when I finally allowed them to stop posing and eat their dinner.

Get On Your Soapbox #17

I’m SO over city people complaining.

Seriously some people need to get a grip. They whinge because their internet is not quite as fast as usual. They whinge that all of their download has gone. They whinge that there isn’t good enough coffee. They whinge that they broke their phone. They whinge that they have no food in the house and that the shops are so FAR (grrr when some people live in Victoria Park, I get really annoyed…there are OODLES of shops there and in the surrounding suburbs). They whinge about doctors. They whinge about schools. They whinge about churches. They whinge about the price of petrol. They whinge that the power’s gone off in a bad thunderstorm.

Yes, I’m just repeating some of the stuff I ranted about in Get On Your Soapbox #15.

Ok, spoilt city slickers, let me put things into perspective for you.

I have a mobile phone I can’t use. I can’t switch it on at home because I get no signal and it just drains the battery. I can’t call or text or receive calls or texts. I have to go to town (about 20 minutes away) just to use this basic service city people take for granted every day. We had to buy this special aerial to plug our phones into just to be able to get one bar of reception so I can send or receive texts. But then that kind of defeats the purpose of a MOBILE phone if I have to stand in one spot. Sometimes it decides randomly not to work. When I hear about people whinging about their iphones, I get very annoyed. They have an iphone. Enough said. That’s not going to be an option for me because no model of phone will work out here. We are in a massive black spot and I’ve reported it to Telstra numerous times but they don’t want to know about it.

Petrol? Don’t you dare complain until you see the prices we pay. And we don’t have the option of public transport. Unless you want to be a hermit, travelling is part of life…and you have to pay for it.

Oh my goodness, when slackers whinge about how they have no food when the shops are just down the road, I seriously want to strangle them. Come here and complain. Or better yet, go to Dally. Yep, that’ll really give you something to complain about.

Your internet is slightly slower than usual this morning? Boohoo get out the violins. We’ve waited for months and been stuffed around my two companies just to get any sort of connection. And now we’re supposedly online and it’s dodgy. When you read this post, I’ll be at someone else’s house just to use their internet. Bigpond keep fobbing us off and won’t return our calls. They sold us a dodgy modem and now we have to wait for them to send us another one. No, it isn’t our choice to go with Bigpond. They are money-scabbing morons, but we don’t have a choice. We have paid hundreds of dollars for modems, aerials and half the stuff doesn’t work properly. City people plug in their modem and away they go. We’ve just about gone broke trying to get this basic service.

So, your power’s gone off in a thunderstorm? Well duh, it was a thunderstorm. Come to Buntine. The power goes off for no obvious reason. In summer. In 43C heat. At least you city folk have Western Power crawling over themselves trying to get it back for you. We’ve had to wait for a few days and that’s not uncommon. They don’t give a toss about the country.

Still complaining?

But don’t feel sorry for me. Honestly, don’t. I have it good in comparison to the rest of the world. I’m glad I’m not in Africa where I might get one hour of electricity a day and not know when it’s going to come on. I didn’t write this post to get sympathy despite what some people may be thinking. I’m just writing to let Perth people know they have it really, really good. The best in the world maybe.

One thing I will never understand though is why city Christians seem to look down their noses at the country, but then say they’re willing to go anywhere to serve God. I’ve heard so many people say this and it really annoys me when they don’t literally mean ‘anywhere’, they just mean a city or somewhere with a nice view of the beach and lots of wineries and Christian schools nearby. Don’t say to God that you’re willing to serve Him anywhere if you don’t mean it (who knows He might just take you up on your vacant blank offer). Don’t say you’re willing to serve God in a developing country if regional and remote Australia is beneath you.

There are many days I seriously consider what it would be like if we moved back to Perth. I would lap up the super-fast and reliable internet. I would rejoice at being able to stay in touch with friends more easily. Even now when I go back, my jaw drops at the prices and the choice. People there get mail everyday (we get it on Tuesdays and Fridays). It’s such luxury.

If only city people realise how good they have it. But Duncan says that if you’ve been spoilt your whole life it’s difficult to go from more to less.

Perhaps only anyone who has lived in the country will understand...

The Pendulum: Church Shopping

I’d never really been in the position of choosing a new church before now.

When I first became a Christian I went to one of the churches that met on my university campus. I guess I chose it, but I wasn’t really aware of the choices out there. I went to that church because I knew a few people who went there, I could walk there (I lived on campus and had no car), and it was non-denominational (I didn’t know which denomination I was supposed to be). I stayed at that church for six and a half years until I got married and left Perth in April 2008.

When I moved to Buntine, there wasn’t much choice in regards to which church I was going to. I went to our church in Dally because Duncan went there and it was the only church in the district that met weekly. To me, it was either go to that church or stay at home.

Now, we are in Kojonup, we have choices. Not many, certainly nothing like in the city, but choices nevertheless. We could go to church in Kojonup, Cranbrook or Frankland, all of which are within relatively easy driving distance from our house. You can see in the previous post that we have chosen Cranbrook, but Duncan and I have certainly discovered during our marriage that we have very different criteria when it comes to ‘church shopping’ (for want of a better phrase).

A friend of ours is keen to go to Bible college one day and be a part of what he calls ‘restoration ministry’. When I asked him what that was, he explained that he has a deep desire to go into a church torn apart by divisions and conflict and be involved in restoration – to help relationships be restored so that the church might have unity in the things that matter, namely the gospel. Some might say he is an idealist, others might say he is a fruitcake, but I can empathise with his passion. So many people my age and even older are all about what church can do for them. As I wrote in Me, Myself and an Online Sermon, I know many people who go ‘church shopping’, but then stop going to church at all because they can’t find one that perfectly suits their needs. They treat church like a shopping centre or a product that they need to test and critique to see if it’s the right fit. I certainly agree that we should carefully examine a church before being part of it; I don’t want to have anything to do with a church that isn’t on about Jesus and His gospel. When I ask people what they’re looking for in a church, it’s nearly always good preaching, a good Sunday School, a good youth group, music that suits their tastes, people their age. Rarely do I hear someone say they’re looking for a church where they can make a difference, where they can serve, where they can commit to a body of people (Christ’s body) for the long haul, working towards a common goal – that people might hear the message of Christ crucified and resurrected and come to trust Him for their right standing before God and salvation. That’s why I admire my friend. He’s not looking for a church to suit his needs. I have no qualms about going to church that has a shabby building or a small congregation or doesn’t have a weekly schedule bursting with programs. I wanted to visit Frankland for this reason. Apparently it’s a small , struggling church plant with only half a dozen regular attenders, mostly middle-aged or older. I could see the opportunity of being a part of something small and watching it grow. For this reason, church planting really excites me.

But Duncan doesn’t feel the same way. Now, first of all, I’d better clarify that I’m NOT trying to say Duncan is a selfish person who wants a big comfortable church while I’m the unselfish one who just wants to serve. Far from it. We both have very different backgrounds. Duncan was raised in a small conservative church with hymns where for a few years he felt like he was the token young person. Once he left school, he started attending a young people’s Bible study in Busselton for fellowship with people his own age. For this reason, he was not keen to go to Frankland. He didn’t want to be a part of a church where we would be seen as the token young people and shoved onto rosters (although I’m not sure how much of a roster you can have with six people). Cranbrook has a lot of young people around our age. I can understand where he’s coming from.

My story is very different to Duncan’s. I was raised non-Christian and the church I attended in Perth was planted to be a ‘student church’ (although now it’s more of a ‘family church’). I’ve had plenty of fellowship with young people. To be honest, having lots of people my own age in my church isn’t one of my prerequisites. It’s nice, but I’ve seen its downsides. Having a church run by young people with only a handful of people over 50 means that there are often a lot of ‘pie in the sky’ ideas and people end up burnt out. Many a time I’ve wished for a few older folk to join the church and say to the young leaders, “Buddy, slow down, you’ll burn yourself out, sometimes you need to let God be God.”

While I have a keen desire to join a struggling church, like my friend, I realise that idealism needs to be mixed with a significant dose of realism. Some people are stubborn and unless God does a mighty work on their hearts, they will continue to be resistant to good, needed change. I think it’s unwise, and even dangerous, for a Christian to deliberately go to a church where they know false teaching is rampant. They may have the best of intentions, but if the leaders of that church will not listen to the truth, it is best to get out of there and look after your own spiritual health. Look for a church that speaks the truth, where its members want to live godly lives, and are keen for others to know Jesus.

I’m torn when it comes to church shopping. I want a church that is keen to move forward, but is committed to the truth of God’s Word. It doesn’t matter whether that church is thriving or just trying to survive – what matters is whether they’re striving. I don’t care whether my church is full of young people or not. I’d like to be a part of something new and exciting like a church plant or a small church that needs a helping hand. But on the other side, I can see it can also be beneficial to join a church that is moving forward rapidly where you can instantly say, “Yep this is my family, and I’m keen to get involved in what they’re already doing.”

Ultimately we chose Cranbrook for the latter reason. It’s a group of people that are keen for others to hear the message of the Lord Jesus. Compared to city churches they look rather pitiful. The congregation would be no bigger than fifty, they don’t have a big music team, and the building is not aesthetically pleasing. But we saw their heart is for Jesus and they don’t seem to be on about things that divide rather than unite which is what we want to be a part of.