Resurrection Power by Frank Hunting

This sermon was given in the 1970's at the Church of Christ Grote St, Adelaide.
A Bible reading preceeds Frank's sermon.
The Bible teaches that the same power that raised Christ from the dead can and does dwell in the Christian.
Sadly we don't very often  live as if this was true.
Listen to Frank explain what this is all about.
There will be a phone ringing on the tape near the end.Don't try to answer it. Just ignore it. Someone else picked it up. Sorry.

Please note there is now an audible version of Frank's sermon on The Cross of Christ.
See below link.
http://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com.au/2009/09/the-cross-of-christ.html

Kenny Rogers Adelaide Concert Review

Tonight I went with my good friend Greg to see Kenny Rogers on the last night of his Australian tour and he also said it was his last international tour.
Kenny sang many of his hits and was warmly and enthusiastically received by the audience which were mainly baby boomer age with a spattering of younger fans.
He worked the audience with his "mock" criticisms of the audience's ability to participate and sing a long.
Some of the criticism was probably quite fair.
A highlight was his singing to a back drop slide show of his wife Wanda and 8 year old twins.
He also sang "the Gambler" over a video clip montage from his movie the Gambler.
He sang his favourite duet "wev'e got tonight" that he has sung with Sheena Easton but sang it solo tonight.

Even though he is advancing in years Kenny sounded like he does on record and was backed by a band of 7 musicians. Three on keyboards and the others on guitars.
Starting to advance in years myself now ,I noticed that he is moving slowly and deliberately and it looks like a good call to stop touring especially for the sake of his young family.
I remeber seeing Gene Pitney in concert a few years back and he said how his son had asked him "when are you going to stop doing this dad?"
Gene said I would like to think I would die on stage singing a song.
Well,sadly, that was close to the mark when he died after a concert while on tour.
This was a concert to savor and Kenny has enriched many with his music.
His support act was Adelaide born Beccy Cole who is a well known Australian Country singer.
She was joined on stage by Trevor Warner who was a musical mentor to her when she was young.
He played the fiddle tonight.
She also had another friend supporting her, Lyn Bowtel.
Beccy was very good and had zest and enthusiasm, humour and talent in her show with little plugs for things South Australian.
http://beccycole.com/
The clip below,"Shiny Things" was co written with her friend Lyn Bowtel.
She sang this tonight.

Beccy's mother ,Carol Sturtzel, was a popular singer in Adelaide who my mates and I saw on many occasions in the 1960's on our saturday night outings.
A great night out for all who attended, especially a bloke call Trevor ,in the front row, who was singled out by Kenny for some clever stage craft with 10 dollar bills(American,"I'm not silly") being flung in Trevor's direction with abandon.

"Love" by Frank Hunting a taped address

This is one of the many Frank Hunting tapes I have in my collection that were largely sermons preached in the Church of Christ at Grote Street Adelaide in the mid 1970's. The messages, as is the Bible, are timeless.An important message on love, in particular Calvary Love for all. See my post "About Frank Hunting" for more info on Frank.There will be more forthcoming as I master the intricacies of putting audio on my blog. This is also found on my you tube channel pembridgehouse.

"I will look to the hills from whence cometh my help?"

In a sermon on this blog called "From Darkness to Light" Frank Hunting talks about a lady who suffered from intense mental health problems.
He outlines how the verse outlined above, which is found in the Psalms, was the catalyst that started her on the road to full recovery.
You should listen to the whole sermon to appreciate what Frank was saying.
http://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/from-darkness-to-light-by-frank-hunting.html

This verse comes to my mind when I recount yet another encounter with birds that I had a couple of years ago now.
We were visiting Renmark relatives and I was in the  grip of a deep depression.
We were as a family out driving on Calperum Station near Renmark.
We stopped to photograph and look at some kangaroos near to the road.
My depression at the time was unrelenting with the so called "black fog" or "black dog"gripping me.
While parked, in the distance, we saw a group of emus coming towards us over a rise in the distance.
For rise think hill.
Emus are very curious birds and they slowly walked towards the car from about 500 yards away.
I started to take photos as they approached.
They came right up to the car and were not deterred when I opened the front passenger door to get better un-interrupted views.
All up we were  probably stopped for about half an hour while I snapped photos.
During all of that photo shoot time I was symptom free.
The symptoms returned as soon as we started for home again after I had stopped shooting.
I am aware that when you are in the grip of depression it is because you cannot get your mind off yourself and whatever might be troubling you.
Sometimes you may not even know what is causing the depression.
What I have learned over the years, when having had some tussles with this condition, is  that it is not a problem that is unsolvable.
The fact that you can be totally sympton free in situations like outlined above should be helpful in saying to yourself "I can get better".
"I do have a future."
When we are a Christian we sometimes find depression harder to deal with because we think we are failing in applying our faith.
This is not the reality of the situation but we don't always look at the reality of things.
The Bible teaches that "Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the word of God."
I found it hard to take medication for depression when I believed I shouldn't need it if I had more Faith.
Revisiting my Faith and scripture and things I knew to be true were important factors in my recovery. 
I have dispensed with the medication at least a year ago now.
If you are suffering from depression now, and you are a Christian ,Jesus will bring you out of it.
Consider the following posted earlier on this blog.

http://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/in-times-of-trouble-and-trial.html

The rise in the distance is the"hill" from whence came my help.

Major Mitchell Cockatoos eating Padymelons

On a trip back from a holiday to Broken Hill in NSW my wife and I came across some Major
Mitchell Cockatoos taking padymelons from the side of the road to trees and then eating them. We watched and filmed and took still shots for about a half hour.These Cockys are just some of the beautiful Parrots and Cockatoos we are blessed to have in Australia.Padymelons are a native melon that unfortunately are bitter tasting and not palatable for humans. They are commonly found in outback Australian country sides.

I hope you enjoy this short video. It is not high quality but an encounter with birds which is always a treat.

Also I have now added a beautiful close up image of a Major Mitchell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Mitchell%27s_Cockatoo

Over the years(since 1970) I have captured hours of movies on standard and super 8 movie film, then VHS and SVHS video, Mini DV video and now from digital slrs and iPhones etc.
Family events, sports matches our kids were involved in, holidays, wildlife birds and out back Australia.
Now that I am "retired" ie. when not babysitting Grandchildren, I am having the pleasure of going through and editing my extensive archives.Some of it you will see here on this blog.

Another Bird Encounter-Thrush on a cup

Grey Thrushes are one of my favourite birds as much for their friendliness and beautiful bird song as anything else. There have been very many generations reared on my in-laws property at Renmark.When my father in law Dud Foweraker was alive they would be at the back and front doors all the time for handouts. A little less frequent in their visits now.

Just found a gem to add to this.
The Grey Thrush by C J Dennis

SINGING all the summer long
Matin hymn and evensong,
Fluting freely thro' the noonday's drowsy hush;
Pouring from my leafy bow'r
Benedictions every hour,
I am the friend of all the world. Grey Thrush.
Mine no monotonic lay
Harping all the livelong day
On a single melody, however sweet;
But, with many a turn and twist,
I, the bushland's soloist,
Offer all my varied repertoire complete.
Happiest songster of them all,
Who can hear my joyous call
Yet find no echoing gladness in his heart?
Madrigal and lullaby,
Chant and canticle sing I;
Every mood l melodize with careless art.
Singing all the summer long
Matin hymn, and vesper song,
Fluting freely thro' the noonday's drowsy hush;
In my drab habiliment
Peace I sing, and glad content,
I'm the bushland's master melodist, Grey Thrush.
The Grey Thrush
by C J Dennis (1876-1938)
The Singing Garden (1935) p.71.

The Courage of Photo Journalists

Nigel Brennan is an Australian photo journalist who was kidnapped in Somalia.
I admire the courage of people who genuinely try to "shine a light" on people and their struggles in troubled countries.
Below is a link to the ABC(Australia) about a current exhibition about Nigel's story.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-17/former-hostage-turns-the-spotlight-back-on-somalia/4207200

Cats and Photography

A nice cat story as reported on the ABC website.
We are a cat family.
Well done to the police involved.

Cat clue helps return lost camera to owner

Updated 20 minutes ago

Photo: Police enlarged Diego the cat's tag to get Ms Lamb's phone number. The number on the tag has been obscured to protect her privacy. (Supplied: Melissa Lamb)

Map: Fawkner 3060

A Melbourne woman has praised police for going that extra mile to return her lost digital camera.

Meredith Lamb, of Fawkner, lost the camera in July after a day out on the Mornington Peninsula with relatives and her young baby.
She filed a lost property report at her the Fawkner police station, but never really expected to get the camera back.
A week later police called and said someone had found the camera and turned it in to police.
She says police were able to track her down by enlarging a photo of a tag on Ms Lamb's cat in one of the photos.
"One of our cats was sitting with our baby. His tag was showing my mobile phone number," she told ABC local radio.
"They've enlarged the photo so that they could the mobile phone number clearly and then called me, off the tag of the cat in the photo.
"I was really quite touched, moved, that they would take that time and go to that effort."
Police were rewarded with some home-made rumballs.

Topics: human-interest, animals, police, fawkner-3060, hastings-3915

First posted 1 hour 2 minutes ago

More of Canberra Botanic Gardens

There is a current campaign to promote Canberra as a Tourist destination.

Here are some more photos from Canberra's beautiful Botanic Gardens to whet your appetite.
A lovely place to spend a day or half day.

Looking Unto Jesus

Follow the link below to the booklet by Theodore Monod called "Looking Unto Jesus"

It has long be a favourite writing and Christian teaching and encouragement.
Put this together with "If" by Amy Carmichael and you have some of the best guidelines to live as a Christian you can get,apart from the Bible itself.

http://www.christjesus.us/Looking%20Unto%20Jesus.html

Pageviews in Last Month by Countries

Some interesting Stats

 

Pageviews by Countries

Entry	Pageviews
Russia	684
United States	588
Australia	296
United Kingdom	64
France	30
Ukraine	28
Brazil	25
Germany	18
India	18
Thailand	18

Parap Wanderers Football Team Photo 1970/71

I have come across this photo today that may be of interest to past Wanderers players in The Northern Territory Football League(NTFL).
See my earlier post on my playing days in this team.

http://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/talkin-about-my-generation-part-3-sport_26.html

Standing left to right:Geoff Burke,Paul Firth,Wally Wallambuna(Wunnugmurr),Geoff Sheridan,Jonathan Yolandu,Doug Kelly,Dick Morphett,Mick Adams,Gary Metham,Peter Baran(Captain) Ray Nulla,Geoff Thompson,Frank Wood.

Sitting left to right:Ronald Dirdi,Alan McCormack,John Lawson(coach),Maurie Ryan,unidentified,Frank Nyec,John Loiuzou.

Many thanks to Mick Adams for getting ion touch and giving me 2 of the 3 names I couldn't remember.

The five teams in the competition that season, 1970/71 were St Marys,Darwin,Nightcliffe, Waratahs and the Wanderers.

Ps. Caught up with Mick today, 7/12/13. Great to catch up and talk about the good old days.

Ps. I noticed some years ago a book produced on the history of the NTFL in it's list of Wanderers Captains etc. had a blank entry for 1970/71 season.
T o clarify the situation John Lawson was our coach (he was head of Kormilda College at the time),Peter Baran was our captain, and I won the best and fairest although I was very surprised by that.
Below is a picture of me holding the perpetual best and fairest shield that winners were able to have for a year.
The pic was taken not long before my wife Lesley and I left for Adelaide.

Three Important Questions

I have been trying to clean up my office.
I am something of a random collector but my main things are books,records,magazines,photographic equipment,cassette tapes and other random stuff.
I have over the years collected some Time Magazines , mainly because of the topic on the cover and the feature article within.
There have been significant ones that are a wonderful progressive collection of modern history.
The ones I particularly like are those that confront us with our place and worth in the world and things of a spiritual nature.
Three I found today pose these questions.

"When did the Universe begin?  March 6 1995(actually probably a little before this)(issue date only)

A crucial question to which you need to add how did it begin?

The Bible says "In the beginning----"  A good place to start reading.
It starts in Genesis.

"The God Gene"  November 8 2004

We have had  "The God Particle" propostioned to us recently but we had the "God Gene" before that.
This was propositioned in a book called "The God Gene:How Faith is Hardwired into our Genes" by molecular biologist Dean Hamer.
There are some interesting quotes in this article.
I like this quote in the mag from Henry David Thoreau.

"With all your science,can you tell me how it is that light comes into the soul?"

"Why did Jesus have to die?"  April 12 2004

Once you have used your "God Gene" to be attracted to Jesus then this is the big question.
I would urge you if you are in this quest to not be satisfied until you find the answer and then act on it. A tip . Click on the the tag below.The cross.

"From Darkness to Light" by Frank Hunting

This is a taped sermon plus optional slideshow.See post about Frank Hunting the Preacher of this sermon.
http://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com.au/2009/08/about-fank-hunting.html

It was given at the Church of Christ Grote St. Adelaide in the 1970's. The Church now continues as The Market Place Church and meets at Flinders Park Primary School in South Australia.The current Minister is Bronte Stanford. Frank Hunting went to be with his Lord several years ago now.
Activate the slide show to hear the message.

Forgiveness again?

A common thread you will see on this blog is the need to forgive.
I have been prompted to write because of articles I have come across about Meagan Kunert on the internet. A young woman who started a wedding photography business and cheated using other people's photos and blogs and posts and information to promote herself.
She was caught out and is now attempting to recover from her demeanors.
It seems an organisation called People of The Second Chance (POTSC) reached out to her with compassion and grace.
Here is link to Meagan's confession on the POTSC website.

http://www.potsc.com/potsc/how-i-ruined-my-career/

Many of course are quick to condemn what Meagan did.
It was bad!

But I am reminded of verses in the Bible like:

"Judge not lest ye yourself also be judged!"

"He who is without sin cast the first stone."

"All have sinned, all fall short of the glory of God."

" Forgive  us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."

I applaud POTSC for what they are trying to do.

I started to read some of the personal testimonies on their website.

I was taken by one who's Pastor Husband cheated on her.

She chose to forgive her Huband, and the telling thing in her story is that she realised after no response from the other person involved, after she herself had offered forgiveness to her, that she needed to forgive from the heart not just because that's what is expected of Christians.

See Trisha Davis' story below.

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4473676857916103027#editor/target=post;postID=4707499569134340934

I would re direct my readers to the earlier post on the Cross of Christ.

None of us, if we are Christians, have a right to withhold forgiveness and we cut ourselves off from knowing the fullness of God's Salvation if we don't forgive from the heart.

http://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com.au/2009/09/cross-of-christ.html

I have had my own brushes with not forgiving and the stress that has brought me and others and of course we can all easily recognise where others are at fault in this but it's what we do that is paramount.

What would Jesus do?

The new man Tape 3 Frank Hunting

Below is a a slide show of some of my pictures accompanied by a sermon on the New Man by Frank Hunting.
The pictures should point you to the creator.
How can we deny there is a God when we look at the beauty of the Natural World.
When we have recognised there is a God and we can know Him through Jesus Christ and have responded to that, we need to then start the Christian journey towards maturity in Christ.
We are not instant new creations when we become Christians  although in a sense that is true.
Our position has changed and our disposition can become the disposition of Jesus.
Sadly, many of us never know the fullness of our Salvation.
The sermon is one of the many that I listened to in a five year period when Frank Hunting was our Pastor.
His colleague Harold Long preached the Gospel that God used to bring me to Him.
Frank was the one God used to keep me there when I could easily have faded away.
So the pictures are meant to compliment the message not distract you.

More Encounters with Birds

One of my all time(so far) favourite experiences when photographing and videoing birds was on a holiday to Echuca and Moama a few years ago. We stayed in the Moama Carvan Park which was convenient for filming the many different Paddlesteamers passing in front of our cabin on the River Murray.
It was also very close to Horseshoe Lagoon which at the time was a swampland with plenty of water.
It was abounding with birds and the highlight for me was a walk through the trails on the island, formed by the lagoon. as dusk was approaching.
Also some gentle rain was not far off.
I was using my Canon XL1 video camera which worked well in low light but was great for capturing sound also.
I know the XL1 is now superseded by other technology, but there has never been a more stylish and practical video camera in my opinion except for its 1 or 2 later upgrades.
The noise of the frogs as the rain fell in some parts was amazing.
I was standing still, more recording the sounds of frogs than doing anything else, when I sensed a bird fly past and land on a tree branch nearby.
It had been very quiet in this, much as owls make no sound in flight.
I soon realised it was a Kookaburra with his back to me so I started filming him.

After filming a few seconds  he turned his head sideways and there were frog's legs dangling from his beak.
I kept filming just transfixed by the cycle of nature in front of me.
Eventually I moved on but he would have sat here for some time digesting his meal after he had eaten.
Below is that film sequence.

I have had some other encounters with Kookaburras and I will post another clip later of one in Melrose in the Southern FlindersRanges of South Australia.