Catalyst Australia

Catalyst Church in Ipswich, Australia is doing a multi-week series loosely based around My Imaginary Jesus. The pastor kindly sent me the link to their first service in the series. There's a fun play at the front end, followed by the pastor's message, which may sound familiar to some of you (he used some material from the intro talk I do on this topic, which I thought was fun and cool!).

Dragons in Australia

So... I didn't see a kangaroo in Australia. Or a koala bear. Or a platypus. But I did see a Kookaburra and several Eastern Water Dragons. Krista took the picture above while we were out hiking around Manly beach yesterday.

Kangaroos, I'm sorry to report to all you Americans, are plentiful but not in the city. It would be like driving through New York City and hoping to see a deer. This is yet another misconception of the world that I would like to lay at the feet of my old friend, Television. Oh, television... you always want to use visual shorthand to tell me where something is taking place. And the end result is that you tell me lies. I know you are just trying to be clever and helpful, but really Television, is this any way to keep friends? I am disappointed in you.

Water dragons are cool, though. Krista thinks them a little less cool, but this can be forgiven as she agreed to take pictures. If you enlarge this photo you will see that the dragon stuck its tongue out for the picture.

At the Sydney Opera House and what happened there

Krista will put up pictures of our date last night soon. I enjoy going out with her, and last night we had a great time together. We went to see the Sydney Symphony playing a show called "Beethoven and Beyond" at the Sydney Opera House. They played Beethoven's Piano concerto No. 1 in C, Op. 15, Hayden's Symphony no. 67 in F and Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. Renowned pianist Paul Lewis played piano for the Beethoven piece, and Douglas Boyd conducted.

Douglas Boyd is quite a conductor. We sat on the stage (it would be the choir's seats when they have a choir) and could see his every move. He would grunt and hiss as he gracefully directed the orchestra through each piece.

At one point someone crinkled some paper (on the other side of the auditorium, it wasn't me) and he gave them such a practiced look of insane anger that I think the person's bit of paper spontaneously combusted and the ushers silently removed the offensive person.

But then, during the break between the opening movement and the Largo, someone started to applaud, then a short but well-intentioned outbreak of appreciation came from the audience. Boyd put his palms together and bowed with a slight smile on his face as if to say Ah, thank you for this applause. We are not finished yet, but I can see that our simple music has moved you. I can tell that you have no idea of the true beauty of this third and longest cadenza we just played, and I imagine you will have no idea what to do at the end of our Bartok, when the chromatic theme is adapted to a diatonic environment... but for now you are impressed and perhaps truly appreciative so far as you are able, and you understand perhaps for the first time what it means when the Bard says that cat guts can bring forth men's souls. So we accept your applause, though we are not yet finished -- and as for the paper crinkling and the coughing and that man there in the red shirt who keeps creaking about in his chair... these things I forgive you, because I can see now they were done in ignorance. And now, if you are quite finished we will continue.

And then, when the evening was over and Boyd returned continually to the front of the stage to receive still more applause, when our hands were raw and tired from playing a sort of music back to the conductor and his orchestra, when he returned one too many times to the apron of the stage and bowed and smiled his superior smile, we forgave him, too, because what he had accomplished was not only some simultaneous reading of music but rather an organized reminder that we, yes we all, are made in the image of God and that a man can take what is in his mind and scratch it out on paper, and other human beings can fashion instruments and still others sacrifice their lives to learn to bring pleasing sounds from these instruments and all these things can come together to provide the faintest echo of the words "Let there be" spoken many millenia ago and for these two hours we remembered that we need not be captives to our base selves, because deeper still stirs an innate desire to be like the One who made us and this is not only possible but so near that we feel we can reach out and take hold of it as simply as reaching out and plucking ripe stars from the tree of night.

And then we took the train back to our hotel, happy and tired and occasionally catching the eye of someone else in a collared shirt or an evening gown and between us passed the mutual understanding that there is a God and He is not far from each one of us, and we must serve Him, we must make this place one that is fitting for Him and that when He comes to reign again we will make an orchestra of previously unknown proportions and there shall be a symphony unlike any other in all of history, and just as His glory fills the whole earth like air, like daylight, so our praise will rise and seek to attain the fullness of His presence.

The Heavenly Bar

While traveling through the Hunter Valley yesterday, our intrepid crew of explorers came across an ice cream case filled with strange Aussie wonders. One of which was this "Heaven" bar... a caramel truffle ice cream delight. Of course with a name like "heaven" there are many excellent slogans one can invent for one's product. For instance (click to enlarge if you can't read it):



Yes, it's true that this slogan would probably be more appropriate for a "Hades Bar" but you have to admit they are trying. And it's true, this slogan sealed the deal for me, I knew I needed to try this frozen confectionary wonder.




I'm not certain, in the end, that it lived up to its hype. The caramel was too sweet, so I chipped that off. And the ice cream was a touch not-sweet-enough and had a strange truffle caramel center. All in all, I'm guessing that the real Heaven is better and has better ice cream bars.

The Low Down from Down Under

Decided to try vegemite this morning. Our host here tells us that starting as infants they feed it to children... that the pediatrician suggests this. Probably because it tastes like eating the Ramen spice pack and it takes a while to get used to it. I am told that if I eat a little bit each day I will build up an immunity to it... much like iocane powder.



This was my breakfast this morning. Toast, bacon, hash browns and baked mushrooms. It was great.




Here's me watching Shawn BBQ our traditional Aussie meal last night. Also great. A big thanks to the Mitchells for the great meal.

And here's us with the whole team... Paul, Shawn, Heather, Christy, and Nick... plus Krista and me. A big fight broke out with some cockatoos (or something like them) soon after this. You have never heard so much squacking. Or squawking. We had a great time with the team last night talking about culture and how to live well on a multi-cultural team. A lot of great insights from the team on what they are doing well and what they can do better.

pics from Newcastle

These little parrots are everywhere. They're like the pigeons of Australia. You can tell the Americans from the Aussies because the Americans are walking around with their mouths open, staring at these little guys flitting from tree to tree. The Aussies are saying G'WAN YOU LITTLE FLYING RATS! I would love to bring some of our Aussie friends to America so they can gawk in wonder at the fat little grey pigeons in the States.

That's Shawn on the left, one of the team leaders of the Newcastle team, and to the right is Brina, one of the team leaders of the Seattle team. He came over to get some time with the Newcastle team and also to surprise his son, Nick, for his birthday.

We took the team for dessert at "Cold Rock." Can you guess which American restaurant this is? Here's Heather and her daughter and Christy (the other team leader... she's an Aussie!) having a bit of ice cream.

Here's Paul, Shawn and me doing the same.

Heather, Paul (American stinter), Nick (Aussie intern) and Christy at one of the morning prayer meetings on campus.

Lazy, Lazy Kangaroo

I remember my disappointment when I first saw wild horses. You mean to say they just stand around in a field and eat grass like... well, like ordinary horses? Yes.

Today Krista took part of the day with our friend Heather and her daughter and went out to an animal park so she could see koalas and kangaroos and so on. Krista took this picture of a kangaroo.



"It just sat there," she said. "It looked like a dog lying down." Lazy kangaroo! Krisa also wrote this rather funny little something about the koala bears she saw today.

SPITFIRE!

The woman who runs the place we stay in was talking with us this morning and then looked over on the floor and said, "SPITFIRE!" and walked over to pick up a bug in a napkin. She threw it in the trash and I looked at Krista with wide eyes and mouthed, "Spitfire?" I could just imagine some bug that shot fire out of its snout or something.

Then the lady came back into the room and said, "It's spitfire season, you know. They're everywhere and they're quite hot."

"Hot?" I asked.

"Yeh. They're furry little guys but they sting. If you see a furry little bug, don't touch it."

Okay. You've got a deal.

Being in a new culture always makes you feel like a child. You don't even know if you can pick up a caterpillar, you're always looking the wrong way before you cross the street and you have to ask simple questions like, "What is vegamite, exactly?"

Updates from Australia

Krista and I had a good flight into Australia. We didn't watch any of the movies. Okay, I watched one... it was the riveting account of the man who invented the intermittent windshield wipers and the evil automobile manufacturers who stole the invention. FORD! The monolithic evil in the movie. The main character was supposed to come across as a hero, I think, but mostly he seemed insane after being offered 30 million as a sort of apology from Ford and then deciding he would rather go to court despite the fact that it comepletely tore his family and marriage apart. Anyway. That was the best movie playing. Krista gave up on it after about twenty minutes, declaring it "boring." HA! If she had held on she would have learned that windshield wipers are hard to make.

We arrived in Sydney a bit ahead of time and made it quickly through customs. They are very serious about you not bringing in most food items. My Aussie friend Geoff says this is because Australia is an island and they don't want any "nasty little bugs" getting in. And I hate to point this out, but Australia has more poisonous animals per square foot than anywhere else in the world. But it's good that they are trying hard not to let any other nasty bugs in.

Geoff took us to his house for a few hours where we hung out with him and his wife Liz, as well as a couple of American friends. Then our friend Shawn came and picked us up and we went out to an excellent lunch at Trellini's. Then we went to the place we're staying in Newcastle. I'd put a picture up, but I know you people will tease me about the pictures of the place. I know your merciless sense of humor!

Then we went to dinner with Shawn and Heather and their little girl, which was fun... Mediterranean food. We managed to keep ourselves awake til about 9 last night, which was pretty good considering. Saw the Southern Cross in the sky last night, which was great. We went on a little walk around town in the evening. It's interesting, they don't have many street lights so it was pretty dark. And we saw an ENORMOUS bat flying around. Krista says that the Brits called them "flying foxes" when they first arrived because they are so huge. I believe it. Also, I think the Brits are cute for saying that. They should have gotten some pegasuses and flying dogs and they could have had a flying fox hunt. I bet they never thought of that. (EDIT: Krista adds that they really did think they were some breed of flying foxes... they didn't know they were bats.)

We had a nice breakfast this morning, and then Krista went out to campus and I hung out for the day with Shawn and his daughter. We went to a park and had lunch at Hungry Jack's, which is Aussie for "Burger King." I wanted to try the "Aussie Burger" (note to self: pronounced 'ozzie burger') but it had an egg on it, so that was right out. We also talked a lot about Shawn's team here and ministry, which was fun.

Now Krista and I are back at our place, and in a couple of hours we'll go out with the team for Thai food and spend some time together. We're having a good time so far, and enjoying Australia and our friends and co-workers here.

I've learned that the Aussies like to shorten a lot of words and have other words we don't use. Two favorites so far:

Brekky (breakfast)
"There are biskys in the bisky jar"... roughly translated "cookies in the cookie jar"

I also like the pedestrian crossing signs, which are yellow signs with two big walking legs on them.

Okay, that's enough for now. I'll post again soon.

Nine Seconds of Awesome

This is a special post dedicated to Geoff Malgee, Andy Goolsby and all the fine lads and ladies headed to Australia on stint this year. Take careful note of the video to follow:



Tie me kangaroo down, sport. Tie me kangaroo down.