The Message of Creation...

I’m reading a book at the moment entitled ‘The Message of Creation.’ It’s not a particularly big book, but there’s some wonderful stuff contained within its pages, and kinda apt as a starting point for chatting about what we’re about just at the moment.

We’ve been in Gladstone now for a mere few weeks, in fact, Mez and I were sitting pondering this week just how vastly different life can be in the space of just a few weeks. I know people talk about life changing dramatically in an instant, and of course I’d be a fool not to believe in the possibility of such incidences, but I think we’re still reeling a bit from all the changes of the past six weeks or so.

Generally speaking, change is something I welcome in life, change is generally for the better… I used to scoff though at people saying that moving house, and changing jobs are the most stressful things that can happen to a person. In my capricious self-love I thought I was above that, after all, I’ve worked in 9 jobs now in just seven years of working (including locums and short term contracts) and I’ve gotten used to moving (up to) a couple of times a year since boarding school days at the tender age of just thirteen. But maybe the scoffing was a little premature. Perhaps it just gets more difficult the older you get. Not that I’d consider myself advanced in years mind you, but the thought of having to secure yet another job, change city again and get a new home is taking more than its fair share of mental space just lately. Add to that needing to buy a new car and trying to consider the needs of such a vehicle over the next 2-5 years is quite some daunting task!

So I read this passage in my book this weekend that made me do a double take. Don’t you love that – when you come across an idea or something you’ve read perhaps dozens of times in the past but then you come across it just at the right moment and all of a sudden it seems as though it were just for you. Just at that moment. And a life lesson is learned. I think that was something of what this was like. The passage was from John’s gospel actually so definitely something I’ve come across many times in the past, anyway here it is:

“He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

If that is truth (and you’re welcome to assert that it isn’t) then it’s an amazing truth. In this instance the ‘he’ is of course Jesus. I’m consistently amazed at the thought of being a child of God – to be a child. To be a child. To be a child. It means to be free to run around and just have fun in this wonderful garden we’ve been put in (more on that in a minute when I finish philosophizing!). But it also means we’re free to make mistakes and run back to daddy crying and have him comfort us, turn us around and send us back out to play – much like what I do with Abbey.

So we’ve been exploring this garden a bit in the past couple of weeks. Mez and I have decided we’ll head either to Brisbane or Cairns for the next job so we thought we’d best explore what surrounds us on the central queensland coast and near inland regions – make the most of our time here, in case we don’t get another such opportunity. Last weekend we headed down to Cania gorge which is about two and a quarter hours drive inland from where we are. Great wee spot with a few beaut walking tracks. We did all bar one of them (and had the achey legs the next day to show for it!) Came around a corner of the track about 3km into the bush to find a great big Lace Monitor sitting in the shade in the middle of the track about 2m from where we were abruptly stopped! He was about 1.5m long with a sly grin (as you can see from the photo he was so kind to pose for!) He was happy enough to amble off the track and hug a tree (even lizards have these greeny/tree-hugger varieties!) to let us past – perhaps it was the sight of the somewhat unpredictable small human perched on my back that helped convince him to let us past – he certainly looked me up and down a couple of times before deciding we could pass! So we made it to fern tree pool and up to the giants chair lookout, before heading in along another track to dripping rock, the overhang and dragon’s cave. On the way to the dragon’s cave mez also spotted a bush turkey and a ‘rare’ Hunter’s rock wallaby. Very cool day all in all and thank God, despite driving home at sundown… no kangaroo’s on the road to dent the bonnet of the boss’ car that we had borrowed. Next day we spent the day at the beach at Tannum Sands which is only about 20-30 minutes drive from where we live. Wrote some nice lovey dovey messages to each other in the sand (as you can see!) Awesome weekend. Definite highlight was the lace monitor – very very cool to see a reptile that big, that close and not get appendages knawed on. Excellent fun.

This weekend, being ANZAC day on the Friday we found ourselves with a three day weekend. It would be rude to waste the opportunity so when we found ourselves without a car to buy and pick-up (which was the original plan for the weekend!) we decided to go somewhere a bit random. Turkey Beach is just such a place, we found a place called the Seaview Mountain Retreat - a plush, self contained cabin (with breakfasts supplied) on a hillside overlooking a magnificent vista with a deck that captured the glorious sunset and views out over the bays, complete with BBQ and outdoor table and chairs. 2 person spa completed the package for a very reasonable price. We decided to stay a couple of nights! Abbey was exceedingly stoked that the owners had a wee puppy dog to play with and seemed vaguely interested in the little green tree frog that hopped into the bathroom (post bath), but was less interested in their local lace monitor sunning himself on the rock in their rock garden or the dozen or so rock wallabies that turned up for the evening cup of corn! There were also a couple of bigger swamp wallabies that hung about in the shadows overseeing proceedings! A real treat! And you can see from the photos that there were heaps of them… First for the weekend was also Abbey in a Kayak which she seemed to enjoy immensely. And so did both Mum and Dad! Maybe that dream of getting out and about in a sea kayak isn't so far off after all! Those that have access to facebook as well can have a look at the couple of videos we got from the weekend (when I manage to get the time to upload them!!). Very cool.

It’s interactions like these and the delight with which they’re received by Mez, Abbey and myself that convince me that despite some of the harder things to deal with over here, that we’re the right people in the right place at the right time. And the harder things will be worked out in due time (of course). Another quote from my book is perhaps useful here: “The grace of God at work in this world, working with us, gives us confidence and optimism.” Pretty much sums up how I feel at the moment. In the midst of a whole load of life changing decisions, but despite the stress of it all, knowing that ultimately God is working with us. That’s why I feel both confident and optimistic that just around the corner something brilliant is waiting to happen to us. Maybe it will be an encounter with another wild creature? Maybe it’ll be an amazing job offer? Maybe it’ll be three of them? Maybe it’ll be more beautiful friends to share the journey with? From where I sit (at least) the opportunites are endless.

Hope you’re well, feeling well and looking forward to what’s next… wherever you’re at…

From Jandals to Flip-Flops to Thongs...

This journey of life is a fascinating one. Certainly if someone had asked me five years ago what I wanted out of the next five years I’d probably have given a guarded response. “Maybe I’d like to get married, and then do some travelling.” A fairly non committal answer I guess, but then, I guess that’s actually a fair synopsis of the last, well three years at least – and looks set to continue for another couple of years at least.

Lots can happen in a few years. A little over three years ago, I was a single man, impatiently awaiting a wedding day that seemed (at the time) to be dawdling painfully slowly towards me. But since then, time has flown by somewhat quickly. Amazing too what a difference even a few weeks makes in the scheme of a lifetime. Just a few weeks ago Mez and I were celebrating our third wedding anniversary, appropriately perhaps, in a restaurant called ‘World Service’ in Nottingham. Three Wedding Anniversaries. Three different countries. France, Italy, England. I figure that between Australia and New Zealand we should be able to keep that roll on for at least the next two years. But then, we’ve learned that travel gets a little more challenging when there’s a noisy one in the back seat. Might keep us a little more settled maybe? Not likely though.

So we’ve moved from a place of jandals & Dairy’s to a land of flip-flops & Newsagents (I was almost going to say Tesco local – There’s almost one on every neighborhood corner!) and now we find ourselves in the land of Thongs and the local Deli. Fantastic. Great progression of weather. Our last week in Nottingham it snowed, we left on about 5 degrees, got to London at 8 degrees, then arrived to a typically blustery day in wellington, 18 degrees. Managed to hit about 25 degrees while we were home on a couple of beaut days, but temps mostly hung in the low 20’s till we got to Australia and landed in 28 degrees. Gladstone has been true to promise in that regard. 28 degrees every day except one last week, which was 29! Clearly tiring weather as you can see from the pics!

Kinda strange to find ourselves again in a place where we know no one, with no car, no possessions beside our trusty computer and the bits and pieces we managed to carry all the way from the UK to NZ and then onwards to Oz. Abbey fulfilled her childish obligations and was a saint on all flights. Clearly that was all our many prayers covered cos she pretty well let rip once we got here. All settled again though now and she's acclimatized to the constant heat and is into everything all over the house now. We have fun wee games of chase on all fours all around the house, since she’s well and truly mastered crawling. In fact, human nature being what it is (or maybe this is just an inherited trait from her folks) she’s no longer content just to crawl, she wants to stand up, using whatever she can get her hands on to pull herself up there, a notable favourite seems to be my leg hairs at the moment.

So what’s Gladstone like? In my perception it’s a fairly quiet little town (they call it a city but I’m not so sure). Mez says it might be a little too small for her, which I guess makes it lucky that my job went from being full-time-for-a-long-time to full-time-for-just-three-months. Such is life, so we now need to find me another job and another place to call home, at least we’ve got three months to do that! In fact I’ve already started applying for a couple that look interestingish! Our home comes complete with two pets: 'Green' the frog who croaks love songs to us 'of an evening' and his fat little reptilian friends the gecko's (who incidentally, as i've discovered/learned from Mez, make a rather big noise like the chirp of a cicada!) We've managed to squeeze in a couple of adventures already - up to Rockhampton which is about 100km North (to buy Abbey's stunning new cot, change table and highchair), and down to the town of 1770 in the south which is about 130km away - that's supposedly where that famous Brit Cpt Cook first sighted Australia on the 24th May 1770. (Monument to mark it on R!) Gladstone is a nice town though, with everything that a small family needs and more. We went for a walk to a shopping centre yesterday to get me some more shorts for work (yes shorts at work – very casual!) and Mez some flip flops. Abbey came along for the ride too – a five hour walk/round trip in the blazing sun. Of course with a couple of stopovers at parks to feed the ducks, ravens and turtles, and to dream at car sales yards along the way!!

Buying a car is an interesting thing – I’ve always gone for whatever car was available and cheap… but now we’re trying to look at what is going to be most ideal functionally for us for the next couple of years, trying to look down the track a little and contemplate the possibility of another child maybe in there too. We were all keen on the idea of a hybrid, but unfortunately the only one I could find second hand here was $35k which we don’t even nearly have. And even if we did, we wouldn’t be spending it on a car! Cars are definitely much cheaper in NZ!

In all likelihood we’ll probably head down to Brisbane in another 3 months, but I’m still needing to get prospectus’ from the two universities down there to look at their masters programmes for 2009 which is high on my agenda of things to do!

So lots of changes for us anyway, and lots more coming up in the next year or so, and not entirely sure how to fit it all in. Good news is, that at least we will have family not too far away when we do it all! My little sister is looking to move to Brisbane with her partner which would be cool – then we’d at least have family in the same city (if we also move down there). Have also been considering a move further north to Cairns where another sister is with her husband, but realistically Mez thinks it will be beyond her comfort zone in terms of heat, so it’s probably not the ideal place for us.

I came across a quote today in a book I’ve been reading entitled ‘The message of Creation’. Entirely excellent quote (in my humble opinion):

“The world God has made provides for the everyday needs of human beings, but is also aesthetically amazing in its beauty and diversity. Furthermore it is a place of moral growth and challenge. At the centre of the garden are two trees.”

This certainly fits with our experience of the last few years, God has provided all sorts of things for us, from the money to flit about the world and see this aesthetically amazing world in some of its beauty and diversity (from the Mountains and lakes of NZ to the rolling hills of the British Isles in all seasons. From the friendly stray dog in the dusty, craggy mountains of Medjugorge, Bosnia to the Alligators in Okeefenokee Swamp in Georgia, USA. From the coral cays and clown fish of Fiji’s outer islands, to the plunging cliffs and sparkling seas of Croatia. From the Azure blue of Capri’s Grotto to the pillars of Rome, the canals of Venice and the fortified walls of Alghero and Dubrovnik, to the sculptures of the Eden project, to Ireland’s cliffs of Moher, to the deep snowfalls we experienced in Newcastle, to the clear blue sky and dragonflies buzzing around our washing hanging outside in Gladstone – there’s plenty of diversity). We’ve also been provided with friends, family even (at times), a community to exist in, jobs, etc etc. I’m sure there has been moral growth too… the times we’ve been tempted just to take instead of gratefully offering back to God what is rightfully his, the times we’ve been tempted to do things we knew weren’t for us, rather than eat from the tree that gives life. And without going on (too much), with that I’ll close – there are challenges ahead for sure, but it’s within a context of incredible beauty and diversity which is what makes make life so entirely good.

Hope you’re at peace wherever in the world you are. Kia kaha, R