It's better to do something...

So today Em and I had the privilege of hanging out with our sponsored child and her mum today. It was kind of surreal - here was this girl that we'd been sponsoring over the past ten months, whose photo is up on the fridge, who was now with us in the flesh. It's hard to describe what it was like actually. It was funny when we first met because I think we were all as nervous as each other. As the day went on all of us became a bit more relaxed.

For the purposes of my blog we'll call our sponsored child Grace. It was great to share a bit of life with Grace and her mum. I love hearing stories. Grace's mum had not worked today because we were visiting. She has three different jobs - cleaning her neighbour's house, doing laundry and selling eggplant at the market. She told us she begins work at 4am and has a small break around 11, and then works until 7pm. Grace's mum has five children and her husband is unable to work at the moment because he is a farmer and the crop he works is not in season.

It was really encouraging for us to see the impact our small contribution can have on a child. When Em and I decided to undertake sponsorship of Grace it said in her bio that she'd been struggling at preschool. Today we learnt that Grace got an award for being third best in her class. Her mum showed us her medals and photos from the presentation, she was very proud.

I can say I'm thoroughly impressed with the Compassion child sponsorship program. I've heard people at times question child sponsorship because supposedly so much money gets sucked up by administration fees. From what Em tells me having worked at Compassion, they as an organisation are very cognisant of this. I also feel that without some of that administration, there is no way we would have been able to have an impact on a little girl half the world away.

So what am I saying? Child sponsorship may not be for you and if it isn't do something else! You're probably reading this from a Western country so therefore you're far, far richer than most of the world. To do nothing, is to be irresponsible with what you have been given. To do nothing, will prevent you from making a positive difference in a person's life and being able to share in that experience. To do nothing, is to be nothing.

Grace (in yellow) and her family in the bamboo hut that is their home

Random Thoughts

This is my first post from my mobile phone. We're here at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on a three hour stopover.

We had a great time in Cambodia and I'm a little sad to be leaving but I'm also excited about going back to the Philippines for the first time since 1997.

I love being in Asia and experiencing different cultures. One thing I'm interested in observing is occupational health and safety or lack thereof. Perhaps it's just a lack of safety in general. Things like people balancing on bamboo scaffolding or severely overloaded vehicles.

Yesterday we saw a family riding a motorbike and the father had a small child in a baby carrier. There were four people on the moto in total. I might have been a bit shocked had I not got used to seeing a bunch of other unsafe stuff.

It got me thinking (and I'm not sure why) about safety and our need to try and control things. Sure, it was easy to look at these Cambodians and think they were being a bit reckless. But then I was thinking even if we try to be as safe as we can and protect those who we love we need to face the fact that much of life... indeed much of our existence is out of our control.

I'm not saying we should just be unsafe because that would be irresponsible, I guess it was just a realisation for me about the fragility of life.

So, should we worry? I haven't found worry that useful to be honest.
Matthew 6:27 NIV
Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

My response is to try & control as much as I can and worry about the stuff I can't control. My response should be to trust in something a lot bigger than myself, someone who truly is in control.

Kampong Thom - journey or destination?

I don't know about you, but I always like getting to a place. Whether it was driving with my family to Narrabean, NSW as a kid for Christmas or getting to where I'm going on a holiday, I always like arriving at the destination.

Over the past two days we decided to do something a little different. Ordinarily we would have travelled direct by taxi from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh (about four hours). This time we decided to stop at a place called Kampong Thom - about half way to Phnom Penh... and I'm really glad we did.

I wasn't sure what to expect because after doing a bit of Googling and being advised by Trip Advisor - it seemed there were only four hotels, six restaurants and three attractions in the whole place. Part of me wondered if it was even worth stopping. In the end, we decided it would be good to see somewhere different, a place where none of us had been before.

After checking-in and some lunch we thought we'd utilise the free bike hire provided by the hotel. On our bikes we made our way to check out the bridge that was built using money from the Australian Government.

It made be feel proud that foreign aid from Australia had been used to help with infrastructure over here, something that while improving, is still lacking.

Riding down some of the back streets it was a privilege to see people at home, just living life - eating meals, running their business, playing with their kids etc. I don't remember seeing a family gathered around a television or with their heads buried in their technology... but maybe it does still happen.

Last night for tea we ate at a restaurant called Run Amok (Amok is a traditional Khmer dish served with either fish or chicken). It was run by a New Zealander and his Cambodian wife. My two red-headed travelling companions really enjoyed their cheeseburgers and I my pizza... Apparently the Khmer menu is coming soon :) The lady was telling us that no-one really stops in Kampong Thom. She was also telling us about the various temples and attractions that are nearby. She also sold me on a large mango smoothie because her mum had just brought the mangoes that day and they were really good.

The girls keep telling me off because I'm always preaching... but I write this blog not to preach but just to share stuff I'm journeying with. I think sometimes we can be so focussed on getting somewhere that we miss out on all the beauty and the wonder in between. I think sometimes we can be so focussed on getting to where we want to go that we miss the beauty of where we are right now. I'm just so glad we stopped in Kampong Thom. I'm glad we slowed down and took in the city and its people, even just for a little while. It has been a definite highlight of the trip so far.

P.S. I think the girls are having a better time than when they last caught up... see below.

Do you want a big year or a small year?

It's New Years Eve and I find myself feeling a little philosophical... perhaps nostalgic. This time last year we were on our way to Cambodia on a trip that I think changed the trajectory of our lives. I mean we've always been different, many of our friends can attest to this. But I always felt we wouldn't be living a 'normal' life, whatever normal is.

So in 2012, we went to Cambodia. We said that we wanted to be open to whatever God wanted us to do. We assessed some job offers that I had and in the end decided to move to Newcastle. I left my job at Child Protection where I'd worked for over two years and Em left her job high school teaching which she had been doing for seven and a half years. I took up the role of Youth Pastor here in Mayfield (and chemical pourer/bottle labeller) and Em began as an admin assistant in HR at Compassion.

I don't think we're any better or worse than anyone else out there. All we did was say 'yes'. The following things happened and you may put them down to coincidence but I put them down to God (as in God of the bible, Jesus, Christian God) having a hand in our lives:

• Applying for the initial job - I saw the job advert before we went away and upon returning home the advert was gone. I assumed the position had been filled but I had a niggling to follow it up. I phoned the pastor and of course he informed me it was not filled.
• When we'd decided to move Em started looking for work and came across the position at Compassion which she obtained and incidentally had to start before my start date!
• I completed a number of house inspections. There was one house that stuck out for both of us but it was not available for a number of weeks. Some of the inspections I did there would be 50 people queuing to get in, or the inspection would finish before it was due to start. The house that we got was 10 minutes walk to the church, to Em's work and a 6 minute drive to the factory. This in the end was the only house we applied for.
• A week or so after we moved in the landlord popped around and said if we needed anything to just let her know. She went to a local Uniting Church and when she saw we were a young couple and I was going to be working at the church she said, 'I had to have you (move in)'. I know, coincidence that a Christian landlord saw our housing application!! ;)
• Actually having some existing connections in Newcastle - Geoff my mentor from Bourke and his family live here and Tish, one of Em's childhood friends also. So even though our Church family has been extremely welcoming it was nice not to have to start from totally from scratch with regard to friendships.

These things amongst a lot of other little signs that we get daily. 

As 2012 draws to a close I'm just incredibly thankful. I'm thankful first and foremost to God. He has been with us every step of the way, affirming our decision and blessing us more than we could have imagined. I'm thankful to my wife Em - for her support and her encouragement, for her passion for life and adventure. I'm thankful for our families for sending us despite missing us terribly. I'm thankful for friends - some old and some new.

I just want to leave you with two things.

I watched the movie War Horse today and there was a quote from one of the characters, Ted Narracott (as he bids on a horse that he well and truly cannot afford).

“There are big days and there are small days – which will it be?... Most days are small days…this, this is a big one.”

I guess it got me thinking, that it's been a big year. But I would say it's probably been the best one of our lives. So I just want to encourage you with the big decision, the big change, or the big whatever your contemplating... to go for it!

And the other thing... This quote I love from Theodore Roosevelt:

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.

My prayer for you is that you'll have a blessed 2013. That you will put aside what people think, those people who sit on the sidelines ready to shoot you down at any opportunity and that you go for whatever is planned for you (if you're not sure just ask your maker). I hope every day is a big day.

My prayer for us is that we keep living out whatever it is God wants us doing wherever he wants us doing it.

God Bless.

The most important thing in life...

... is not sport.

I just watched the team that I love, Geelong Football Club lose to the Fremantle Dockers in an elimination final. I thought I might take to the Blososphere to help process the outcome. I felt like crying, I was yelling at the TV like a mad person - at one stage our cat Jimmy (incidentally named after a player from GFC) leapt off Em and scratched her through her jeans as a result of my yelling.

The Tim of old would let the game's result dictate my mood for the next couple of days, but I need to grow up and stop letting my emotions be controlled by sport. I am a typical Victorian and love my sport, I hate losing and find it hard to disconnect from the fact that I have no impact on the outcome. I said my prayers and even that didn't help. I told God I knew he was impartial about these things but part of me hoped Geelong were his favourites.

But there is so much more to life than sport (as I type this I'm watching ABC 2's Paralympic coverage). Not sure if you heard the story of Alex Zanardi - just another great story to come out of the games (http://www.smh.com.au/sport/zanardi-enjoys-fairytale-win-20120906-25hef.html). Where was I.. oh that's right - more to life than sport. I guess that's the thing about sport, it draws you in and I get caught up in the stories behind the actual event. For example, the champ who is down and out with his back to the wall... the up and comer, lacking experience but making up for it with enthusiasm, spunk and zeal... the under-performer or reject from another team seeking redemption etc. etc.

I have a theory about sport, not sure if it's just a male thing. But, back in the day, like way, way back we would have been having regular battles. Mano-a-mano - dudes thumping their chests and showing each other who was top dog. I mean, a bit of that goes on nowadays. At one of my jobs (no, not at church), guys are always talking about how they would knock each other over/out, whatever. Nothing ever happens, guys just like to talk about how tough they are. So anyway because there aren't many blatant displays of strength or little battles - the battle for us becomes sport. Look, it's just a theory.

Anyway, is this why sport can feel like it's so important? I know deep down that many things are more important than sport - God, family, friends, relationships, Aldi... But often I show way more passion for sport than I do for any of these things - except maybe for Aldi. I just wish I could be as passionate about God as I am at times about sport.

The thing that gets me is I don't realise how blessed I am. Like seriously how often do you stop and think about how good you've got it? I can kick back, drink a couple of beers, and watch the team that I love (in standard definition) be eliminated from an AFL finals series. Geelong could have got smashed and I'm still better off than probably 95% of the world (no real stats to base that percentage off). I sat on the beach today and thought that I'm just so lucky - I hate that word but I can't use 'blessed' again.. okay have searched the thesaurus and I'm going with fortunate. Stuff it, I am blessed - blessed up to my eyeballs.

I don't live in fear of my own personal safety (although driving in NSW traffic has its moments). No fear of deportation, I'm not on a leaky boat, I know my family are relatively safe... I've got a roof over my head, got plenty of stuff - way too much of it probably, loving wife, friends (who don't always return DVDs). It trips me out how ungrateful I can be. I can still find reasons to whinge about my life. We can suffer from spoilt brat syndrome at times - because when it comes down to it we really have everything that we need.

You might read this and think, 'That's a couple of minutes of my life that I can't get back'. That's cool, as I said from the outset To... was for me. But I attribute everything good that I have, everything that happens to a God who loves me. You might attribute it to life-force, spirit, hard work etc. The most important thing in my life is God - and I'm ashamed to think how often I let him slip down and down the priorities list. I guess the footy reminded me tonight that it's only a game (you're forced into such thought processes when your team loses). And I'm thankful for that.

I thank God that I have sport to get all wrapped in and be passionate about, but I pray my life will be about the main game and not just distractions along the way.

my two babies

The Next Chapter...

Hello Blogosphere,

It's been a while, because I haven't really had much to tell you.

So when Em and I were over in Cambodia earlier this year we decided to be open to whatever it was God wanted us to do... I had been studying Theology for 12 months and really wanted to get a job in a church, plus I thought that was where God was leading me towards. Last year I kind of waited for the opportunities to come up, but none really did. So I thought this year I was going to be a bit more intentional and see what happens.

Opportunities in Ballarat were particularly limited so late last year I started checking out Church of Christ jobs in New South Wales and other states. I saw a job advertised in Newcastle and thought, 'That would be cool' but then it was late in the year and I didn't get my butt into gear and apply or anything. Upon returning to Australia following our trip I looked for the ad again but it was gone... Assuming it had been filled I thought I'd still send an email to the pastor and find out what the go was. To my surprise it hadn't been filled, they'd just taken it down because it was over the Christmas period and staff were on leave.

I sent my resume off and waited to hear back. In the midst of all this we'd been contacted by another church who did not have a minister and they were keen to start the conversation about me pastoring there. The two jobs were totally different. One, a straight-up youth pastor job and the other, pastoring a church with no other ministry staff and trying to regenerate it by bringing in young families, youth and young adults so it could avoid extinction. Wow.

To cut a long story short. I ended up getting offered both jobs. While it's not all about me, it was nice to be wanted and appreciated for what I can offer.

We had a decision to make.

I have been incredibly blessed in my life. This was the third time I'd been offered two jobs at the same time! In the past I've just chosen the job that I've wanted to do more, but this time around I wanted to make sure it was what God wanted me to do. Em and I prayed heaps. It was hard to separate how we felt about the respective jobs, what we thought God wanted, what we thought each other wanted, what would be best for us and what would be best for the respective communities we may be ministering to.

In the end the decision became clear and we felt/feel much peace about it. We're off to Newcastle where I will be the youth pastor at Mayfield Church of Christ!

Oscar & Em

We're excited and a little daunted by the prospect of our BIG move. I don't think it's sunk in yet that we'll be leaving both lots of parents, siblings, our nephew Oscar (who is the cutest) and our friends. We just have to trust God that he'll look after the people we leave behind. It's been good to be able to test our faith and trust God with where we're going and all that we're leaving behind. It reminds me a bit of skydiving. We're stepping out of the plane trusting the equipment, trusting that the parachute is going to open. But we're not alone because God's got our back (even more than the guy who was attached to my back during my tandem jump).

Em is not sure what she'll do when we get up there so we're just going to play it by ear. She can always do relief teaching but I think she wants to utilise her Masters in International and Community Development - so we'll see what happens. She is awesome and very employable so I don't think she'll have any dramas finding work.

I'll be starting my new job around the 16th of July and I'd say we'd be moving in the 2 weeks before that. We'll be having a farewell thingy at some stage so will keep you posted.

Thanks for sharing the journey with us and please keep praying for us.

Chilling at KL part 2

Well we're back to where my journey in the blogosphere began - Kuala Lumpur International Airport. We flew out of Phnom Penh at 11am this morning and had a good, uneventful flight. A bit of turbulence and some prawns in my lunch were the only slight issues encountered.

We've had an iced coffee at Starbucks and watched Date Night in the movie lounge. Now we're watching Jelena play in the Sports Lounge. They use the word 'lounge' pretty freely around here. There really is no lounge to speak of... Just four tellys and some couches in the middle of the large corridors that meet with each departure gate.

Probably the most interesting part of the day was watching a film crew do their work in different parts of the airport. We're not sure but we think they might have been shooting a commercial. There were four guys dressed in glitter suits and hats and covered in glitter from head to toe. Em did some searching on the net to try and track down who the 'star' was - no such luck but he looked Indian to me. He is probably huge in another country.

Jelena just lost :( Obviously my fist pumping didn't help.

Lleyton is coming up next, not sure if we'll get to watch it all. Our flight leaves at 9:40pm.

I love the fact that you can be on the other side of the world and be watching sport live! Em is pretty chuffed too. I just asked Em if she was chuffed... she said, 'Do I look chuffed?'.

I was thinking about the traffic today in Phnom Penh on our way to the airport - party because I thought our taxi driver was going to kill us. But perhaps as a metaphor for life... just go with me on this.

There are lanes to guide everyone but not everyone sticks to them. People accommodate other people who are turning in, merging and/or cutting off. There are laws and there are traffic lights but in reality they're all optional - of course there are consequences if we don't do what's expected. The traffic stops, goes and at times moves very slowly. Sometimes it moves quickly. I saw a Yamaha R1 motorbike today - a bike that probably goes 300 kilometres per hour. Most of the traffic, even as it clears up only goes around 30-40 kilometres per hour. So not sure why you'd need an R1. There are expensive Lexus SUVs and cheap Daewoo Tico's - a car that we drove in last night that a tall person could sit in the back seat and still reach the pedals.

What's the 'traffic' like in your place at the moment? Moving too fast/slow? Are you going with it, or against the flow? Is your vehicle keeping up with the Joneses? Are you stopping at signposts in your life? Are you letting people in... are you being let in by others?

These are just thoughts spewing from my mind. Stream of conciousness if you like.

Sreytouch, Sophani, Naomi & us on our last night in Cambodia

Flick, Lauren (friends that we met through T.A.B) & Em @ KLIA

* * * * *

I think I was a bit delirious at the time of writing... well that's my excuse. Now, back in Ballarat there is still much to process from our trip. I was continually amazed at how the traffic just worked despite no-one appearing to follow any rules, using indicators or taking any notice of road signs. I wondered if we had a day with no traffic lights would it just work too or would we descend into chaos? I tend to lean towards the latter... and I wonder what it says about our society (or maybe what it says about me?).

Anyway I have rambled enough. Thank you if you took the time to read my blog. I appreciated the positive comments and I found it to be a really enjoyable experience and something I can look back on any time I want to re-live our trip.

I may keep blogging but I feel like I need to do something interesting so I have something to type about.