Blog Archive

Thursday, January 30, 2020

From the Wayside Chapel-Kings Cross

Dear Inner Circle,
Over summer I wrestled with Stan Grant’s book Australia Day. I recommend it to you all. Even though I don’t share all of his views, I deeply respect the man. If you think there is a simple way to deal with January 26th, then it is essential reading for you. In his book, he describes the boats arriving at Kurnell through ‘the view from the ship and the view from the shore’ as both perspectives are alive within his body. Looking from the ship through the lens of the shore invites new vision and opens fresh possibilities for relationship and dialogue in our society that is all too quickly retreating behind the battle lines drawn by identity politics.
The only way we can avoid walking away from each other is to walk together. We are proud that the 1965 Freedom Rides left from the doorstep of the Wayside Chapel our building, at a time before the 1967 Referendum, when people of Aboriginal descent were not counted in our national census and were not yet recognised under Commonwealth laws to receive basic rights like old-age pensions and maternity allowances. Wayside played a small but significant role in supporting our Aboriginal brothers and sisters, as well as their leaders to campaign for their rights to be recognised.
We are proud of our Mob Space at Wayside. It is a place of welcoming, culture and safety for our Aboriginal community. It was established and is run by staff for whom cultural obligation, knowledge and sensitivity gets no rostered day off. Last week, two new women were added to the team and together I have no doubt they will continue to have a great impact in the lives of our visitors. The work they do deserves our special thanks. There are days where from the moment they open the doors to the moment they close, they support people who have faced trauma, disconnection and challenges to survive. Amongst this, there is hope and celebration. They dream of being able to do more and are now planning to run a Women’s Group to complement their Men’s Group, with a focus on mental health, suicide prevention and cultural connection. They are our unsung heroes, who I can guarantee are embarrassed that I am writing about them, at all such is their humility. We have a lot to learn about kinship and connection from our First Peoples.
School is back, and if you have managed to forget, I am sure that your social media feed is clogged with “first day back” images. I fear that we are making the price of education too high for the poor. We will pay a price for making the pathway out of poverty inaccessible to those who need it the most. I’m getting requests for assistance with back to school essentials. Thankfully, we have a few angels who have been able to help us get these kids back to school through the provision of books and uniforms. I’ve seen parents go to extreme lengths to get their kids to school. Once I was asked to give a mum a lift to their cousin’s house on the first day of school. There was a ‘no uniform, no attendance’ policy at her child’s school. I got a little suspicious when she asked me to drive to an unfamiliar affluent neighbourhood and then instructed me to slow down the car as she scanned front doorsteps. “This’ll do, pull over, but keep the car running” she ordered, and I tend to do as I’m told. I idled next to a house with lots of shoes out front, she grabbed a black pair, ran to the car and yelled “Gun it!” That morning I became an unintentional accessory to education. I wouldn’t mind that as an epitaph. 
Of course, we don’t condone stealing. But this cheeky story from 15 years ago highlights the harsh reality of a mother’s desperation and the importance she placed on her child’s education. We thank you all for the many ways you make it possible for us to help other people who are in desperate circumstances.
We also thank you for being a part of this Inner Circle,
Jon

Jon Owen
Pastor & CEO
Wayside Chapel

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

What Brought Me Back To God — Philip Yancey | Undone Redone Webcast


I am currently reading Philip Yancey's book called "What's so amazing about Grace!"
Philip does not pull any punches and I have posted this here for those who are struggling in their faith and maybe their marriages.
The hosts of this podcast have an amazing personal story of their Marriage,Divorce and Remarriage to each other.
Their podcast is "Undone,Redone!"
This is how they describe themselves.
"Hello! We are Tray and Melody and we were married for 11 years, divorced for 6, and have now been re-married for just over 10 years! We are passionate about leading men and women to experience God's grace in their brokenness as they learn to live deeply from the heart. Check out our weekly podcast and our web site at http://www.undoneredone.com."

Friday, January 24, 2020

Australia's Tennis Heritage

As a young person growing up I spent the first 5 years of my life in a tennis loving family.
I was living with my parents and grandparents opposite the Carnarvon Tennis Club at West Croydon.

My family were very involved in the club and were all very competent tennis players.

I developed and early love of the game and as I grew up visited my grandparents every school holidays and played from dawn to dusk at the Carnarvon Courts.

I listened glued to the radio in those days of Australia's battles in the Davis Cup.

Players like Ken Rosewall, Lew Hoad, Frank Sedgeman and Ken Mcgregor became Australian heroes of the court.
And many more after them including Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong.
And Adelaide's own Leyton Hewitt.
The courts are no longer there now.
Two youngsters I remember playing with were John James and Aldis "Ozzy"  Ozolins.
John went on to have a successful tennis career.
I ended up playing cricket as the local tennis club at Lockleys was less than encouraging when a friend and I approached to join the club.
We were about 11.
They simply did not have a junior programme so unfortunately Tennis missed out on 2 potential great players.
Thankfully these days there is no such problem. 

Memorial Drive became the mecca of tennis in Adelaide and still is.
Ash Barty won her first Australian title there this month.
I remember going there and seeing the first lot of professionals when I was a kid.
Pancho Gonzales was the big drawcard that night who had the world's fastest serve at the time.

We have a rich tennis heritage in Australia and the Australian Open has became a major event on the World Tennis Stage,

Most photos here taken by my Dad, Glen Thompson.

Mum


Carnarvon Tennis Club approx 1948
78 Rosetta Street
Glen Thompson and Vic Hastwell
Mum and Dad and a friend at the tennis.
Action at Memorial Drive


Action at Memorial Drive



Friday, January 17, 2020

Canberra Come Back


We have stayed in Bateman's Bay in he past. A lovely spot.
We will go back as soon as we can.
This and other towns have been badly affected by this years horror bushfires.
They are still open for business and this is pitched at Canberrans.
I am trying to spread the net wider for this and other East coast places.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

My Country is burning! Australia on fire!


These pics taken near Darwin in 2011 from the Stuart Highway.These bushfires start up almost every year in the NT and for the most part are left to burn themselves out


As I write this Australia has been battling for some weeks now catastrophic bush fires.
Some countries call them Wildfires.

There have been, and are still burning, major fires in NSW, Victoria,South Australia and Western Australia.

We have visited many of the areas where the fires have been burning on holidays and feel very much for the people and animals living there.

There is some tapering off now and there is a threat of flooding rain in some areas.

People have been very traumatised by the whole event but in many cases the fires have shown a great example of where community spirit and unselfishness kicks in.

The not so positive side has been the  accusations when something like this happens.

Climate change of course is right up there in the discussions and people are wanting to pour blame on Australia"s Prime Minister.

In the Old testament we,the human race, are told we are to look after the earth so in a sense with our pollution and poor management we as a human race are responsible.

Australia has always been a country ravaged by bushfires and indeed many native trees rely on bushfires to regenerate.

What I find difficult to swallow the climate change debate part of this is when you ask yourself the questions about past great fires.

Eg. the burning of London and the burning of Rome.

Was that climate change?

That was a long time ago.

And in more recent times when Canberra was badly affected by a massive bushfire I don't remember climate change being discussed then.

The current protests to me in Australia seems more like an opportunist groundswell to oust the Prime Minister.

It's interesting that  when you read how London was re built that it appears a coal tax was used to raise money.

And when you examine these events the human reactions in apportioning blame are quite evident.

These terrible fires have been awful and I pray that people will be able to recover and receive the help they need.

Below are some links to the past events I have highlighted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_London

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_Rome

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Canberra_bushfires#cite_note-24

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-11/australia-bushfire-crisis-just-dont-mention-climate-change/11857590

 Of course we don't see the widespread protests about the world being aflame as written by Billy Graham in 1965..

Aflame with moral decay.

That's another story.

https://geoffthompsonsblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/world-aflame.html



Friday, January 3, 2020

A visit to the Riverland

Over the weekend we visited Renmark in South Australia.

We caught up with rellies.

We had some 40+ days.

Today in Adelaide,3/1/20, is 42 and a high fire danger.

Much of the eastern seaboard  i Australia has been and is currently experiencing horrific bushfires.

One day I spent the whole day inside watching the cricket.

Here are some pics.

Happy New Year to my regular readers.

Very hot Noisy Miner Renmark


Lake Bonney
Apostle Bird


Australia v New Zealand


Wednesday, January 1, 2020

God I want to give you every minute of this year.




This is from the booklet "Learning the Vocabulary of God" by Frank C  Laubach.

Some good thoughts to start 2020.

"Nagpur India:  Friday 1st January 1937

"God, I want to give You every minute of this year.I shall try to keep you in mind every moment of my waking hours.

I shall try to let my hand write what You direct.

I shall try to let You be the speaker and direct every word.

I shall try to let  You direct my acts.

I shall try to learn Your language as it was taught by Jesus and all others through whom you speak-

in beauty,

in singing birds

and cool breezes,

in radiant Christlike faces,

in sacrifices and in tears.

It will cost not only much,

but everything that conflicts with this resolve."