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July, 2007

  1. Connection Debacle Concludes

    July 31, 2007 by Geoff

    The story got a little bit worse before it got better. With electricity restored and gas on, I went to try the hot water tap on the off chance that the hot water system had magically taken care of itself. Worse. Not only wasn’t hot water coming out of the tap, there wasn’t any kind of water coming out of my tap. By now the situation was laughable. So after a call back to my connections guy who gave me the water company guy’s phone number, we worked out that they never turn off the water, and that it must have been turned off by “someone else”. A quick scout around the house (after the guy explained the two different meters I needed to check), I found out that in my (much) earlier attempts at turning my gas on had in actual fact switched off my water. And with the gas and water both pumping, the hot water system became significantly more cooperative and I was able to complete the trifecta.

    Bec is a wonderSo as we speak this morning (this is being written offline on a train), I’ve woken up to hear my alarm (electricity) and had a warm (gas) shower (water) and so now all that needs to happen is for my phone to go online so that I can sort out the internet stuff and then we’re away.

    P.S – Any recounting of the evening would be incomplete without a mention of the unbelievable Lemon and Honey Chicken served up by the very patient, calming and beautiful Rebecca, who put up with an awful lot and showed another reason why she’s really way out of my league.

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  2. Connection Debacle

    July 30, 2007 by Geoff

    I’m now pretty much all moved in to my shiny new house. It’s quite a bit further in towards the city than I had been, although still decidedly stuck in genuine suburbia – it cuts about 30 minutes off my journey to work (and the same home again). It’s a lovely little place, and it’s the house that once Paulie moves out, will become the first house that Rebecca and I live in once we’ve gone and done the whole wedding thing.

    So – all nice and lovely so far. I moved in on Saturday, and polished things off on Sunday, after a rude shock at not having a warm shower – couldn’t work out the hot water service so I left it at that. Then I came home Sunday night after going to see Eagle vs Shark (best New Zealand film ever – very, very funny) at the Melbourne International Film Festival we got back with the plan of cooking some delicious pasta to a rude awakening. The gas stovetop wasn’t working. Suddenly the ducks all lined up in my mind: no hot water with an uncooperative hot water system and no gas stovetop equals no gas connected. I pottered around aimlessly trying to find my gas tap and turn it on, but had no luck whatsoever. My gas was not coming on.

    That’s OK, we’ll have something else to eat. I’m a resourceful sort of a chap, and despite not having a microwave, I’m able to try other things. I’d already bought some fruit bread, and I’ve got that lovely shiny new toaster I got for my birthday all those months ago that’s just waiting to be tried out. But no. The toaster was doing a good impression of my gas stovetop and my hot water system and not working. Worse, there was a yucky smell emanating from the shiny new toaster that indicated that keeping on trying was not a desirable course of action. So I didn’t. We ordered some take away pasta from the nearby haunt and pretended to be happy. At least we could sort this out tomorrow.

    Tried contacting the real estate agent and got a voicemail, left a message asking what was likely to be going on with my connections given that I was pretty sure that the bit I’d signed on my rental application saying that my connections to utility companies would be nice and sorted without me needing to worry about a thing should have solved all of my problems. Lo and behold, 30 minutes later and I get a call not from my real estate agent but instead from the “connections R us” type people asking for all of the details about connecting me up to all the lovely utility companies they have on their books.

    No problem, I said, and patiently listened as my friend on the phone told tales of electricity prices and gas prices and advised me that I probably just needed to find my gas tap and everything would be alright, and with the thought that I’d recollected something that was almost certainly that very gas-tap; I sat back safe in the knowledge that I’d almost certainly be able to cook for myself tonight, and shower at home tomorrow morning.

    I walked in the gate and saw off to the left (the one place I hadn’t checked out properly), that there sat what was almost certainly the gas tap I was searching for, and sure enough, that tap was sitting in the “off” position. “Silly duffer, that’s always the way” I calmly thought to myself as I unlocked the door, stepped inside and blithely flicked my fingers over the light switches. Nothing. I tried a few others. Still nothing. So now I more than likely had plenty of gas, but the complete absence of any electrical activity was disappointing to say the least. I made the call through to the “Connections R Us” (not their real name – it’s not their screw up so the name has been changed to protect the innocent) and they’ve now called back to assure me that before 9 I should have power back on and life should return to normal.

    Which brings you up to date with the situation I find myself in at current: sitting here not feeling guilty about stealing someone else’s wireless, well and truly past the point of annoyance, now just able to see the hilarity in the whole situation. Bec’s had to go to her place to sort out dinner, while I represent a picture of irony: the peak of modern technology at my fingertips as I surf the net on a MacBook Pro, all the while denied the pleasures of the simple light globe.

    Category Personal | Tags: ,,,,,, | 3 Comments

  3. Forty Feet Gopher

    July 24, 2007 by Geoff

    Wanted to point out a few things of interest on the interweb. The first is to (belatedly) let anyone who didn’t already realise know that Hamo (the National Director of Forge now that Alan Hirsch has taken off for the US) has picked his blogging back up again, and has got already been putting out some amazingly good content. He can be found over at Backyard Missionary (www.backyardmissionary.com) and quite frankly, if you’re here for intelligent theological and practical missional discussion, go there first – he does it much better. Of course, if you’re here to find out what’s going on in the life of Geoff, he’ll have significantly less of that.

    The second thing to draw your attention to is that Dan Wilt has got a wonderful piece on his blog called “The Scandal Of Particularity: Facing Jesus In A Postmodern Age” which strikes exactly the line that I think I’d draw in dealing with the tension between the battle-stations, hard-line fundamentalist, militant view of Jesus’ claim to exclusivity and the opposite side where Jesus becomes “one path to the same God”, which preaches a gospel that is more culturally acceptable but which loses a huge chunk of the meaning and mission of who Jesus is. But don’t take my word for it: have a read – it’s a long one but utterly worth the time.

    The third thing is much less theological and a lot more silly. “Say No To Crack” got me onto the “Internet Anagram Server” – which is where the post title comes from: it’s an anagram of “TheGeoffReyport”. You put in the words you want anagrams for and away it goes. Other highlights for “TheGeoffRe(y)port” include:

    • Thy Groper of Feet
    • Top Ferret, eh Fogy
    • Heft Reef Orgy Pot
    • They Free Frog Pot

    OK – enough silliness. You’ll have noticed a lack of posts on here: life’s getting busier with moving house and wedding stuff and youth all combining to rob me of blog posting time.

    Category God Stuff | Tags: ,,,,,,, | 3 Comments

  4. National Disgrace

    July 16, 2007 by Geoff

    Mohammed Haneef is likely to be held in detention indefinitely for one of two reasons: because he is the cousin of a terror suspect in Britain, or because he gave his cousin a SIM card before he left the country. And it’s not at the hand of a judge, who granted the man bail, but at the hands of our Federal Government who is so desperate to be seen to do something to stop the hemorrhage of public confidence that they are willing to dispose of central democratic principles such as the independence of the judiciary. To call this an over-reaction to the threat of terrorism is an excessive understatement. This is a national disgrace.

    (video of Kevin Andrews’ press conference can be found here)

    Category World | Tags: ,,, | 9 Comments

  5. What should submission to leadership look like?

    July 12, 2007 by Geoff

    Had Paul and Jas over at Bec’s house last night and got involved into a really interesting chat (as tends to happen when little Paulie is around), surrounding the practicalities of what it means to submit to leadership. Now as it turned out we eventually reached a point of working out that the specific situation Paul was describing might not have been about submission, but nevertheless it’s an interesting area to be exploring.

    Basically Paul presented a fairly straight down the line, authoritarian perspective on what it means to submit to leadership: Leader states the decision/direction/whatever that the ministry is heading in and submitee goes along with that direction. Which at a very basic level has to be an accurate description of submission. Under an especially strict interpretation though: you don’t ask questions, you don’t offer suggestion. And the places that model takes you to seem to me to be deeply frightening: you end up “venting” about leaders because feelings of discontent need to get out somewhere. You end up putting on the “sure, no worries” face while you stew inside. And we create a self-perpetuating cycle of dishonesty and inauthenticity. And we end up leaving leaders feeling like they need to be making all the decisions, regardless of whether or not they are the people best equipped to make the call.

    So here’s the model we/I proposed. Submission doesn’t mean pretending that you always agree, nor does it mean storming off because you disagree with decisions. I think that submission needs to be about communicating the areas you disagree with: both in terms of ideology and theology as well as in purely emotional and personal matters. Then trusting your leader with how you really feel: not dressing it up with grand reasons why you’re right when the real issue is just that you’ve been hurt. Having done this, you trust your leader with everything you’ve communicated: letting them hear and consider your beliefs and emotional attachment and believing that they will balance that against everything else in the situation and pushing forward with the direction the leader opts for: regardless of whether or not that’s the choice you’d have made.

    I realise this is an exercise in idealism, and there are big costs: time spent communicating being a really big one. And some issues or problems with decision making are going to be so small that just a shrug and a chuckle are the best response, but it helps to remove the insidious pattern of whispering and undermining that seems to happen around any leaders. And it does require that you have leadership who are willing to listen, hear what your saying and make genuine evaluations taking into consideration your point of view without being a doormat. But I really feel that the centrality of honesty in this model gives it a really good shot of making the deliberate decision to submit to authority a helpful and productive part of life in the church rather than a burden that needs to be worn.

    So – rather than this be an exercise in me making myself feel holy and theological, interact. What’s wrong with this model? Does this pay enough respect to the position of leaders? I’d love to hear what strikes you about this thinking because I know that it’s in no way complete.

    Category God Stuff | Tags: ,,,, | 15 Comments

  6. Let Loose on Ranges – Nathan and David

    July 3, 2007 by Geoff

    As I mentioned in the previous post, Scott and Christina let me loose on their congregation, and I had a chat about the interaction between Nathan and David. You can have a listen here – “Nathan and David: 24th June 2007″. There’s a bit of a shaky start, but hopefully it ends up being worth a listen.

    Category God Stuff | Tags: ,,,,, | Comments Off

  7. The People You Meet

    July 3, 2007 by Geoff

    There has been more than one instance when I’ve been asked a curious question: “Do you know the people who comment on your blog?” The most recent person to ask was Rohan (occasional reader, even more occasional commenter from the famous “Rohan and Kate” partnership), and I thought that the question deserved a proper online reply. Because there has built up a bit of a crew who comment on here, and it might be nice to have a go at introducing one another. So there’s pretty much two groups: the people I know from real life, and the people I’ve (pseudo-)met through the blog.

    Real Life Aquaintances

    • Bec – Always put your fiancé first: I might not know many rules to this thing, but I do know that one. :) We’ve known each other fractionally longer than we’ve known that each other blogged, but if you’re ever in danger of dying of boredom, it’s quite amusing to have a look at the early flirtations (circa March – July 2006 here and at allsaidanddone.com) happening online.
    • Scott and Christina – When I got a preaching gig at Ranges a couple of Sunday’s ago (which I’ll post the MP3 link to when Scotty puts it online), we pointed out that Scott actually taught me when I was in Sunday school. Scott and Christina were both a part of YVV for quite a while, and in the past year or so, it’s been great to get to know the better and to interact with the great things that they both write (although there has been a slow-down in the frequency of postings due to a certain little girl called Jemima)
    • Gerry and Melinda – Gerry sometimes posts as Deri, but Gerry and Melinda are my future parents-in-law.
      They are genuinely lovely people, and as a bible translator for Solomon Islands Pijin, Gerry brings a unique perspective to just about anything he talks about.
    • Virtually Paul – Although he might have started out as Bec’s friend, little Paulie is now a good mate – to the point that if the planets align correctly, we should be housemates for a little while before long.
    • Tim – When it’s without an “O” or “Ogilvy” after it – it’s usually one of my groomsmen Tim. He links off to “halfdecentcoffee.com” despite the fact that there hasn’t been anything there for as long as I’ve known Tim well enough to want to check it out. But we have breakfast together every fortnight – so he’s a good bloke!
    • Tim O(gilvy), aka Timmeh – This is a different Tim: far more likely to say something inflammatory in the interest of either starting something interesting or just for the sake of saying something controversial.
    • Laura, Hannah, Emily – More likely to see Laura (Bec’s twin) on here commenting, but Hannah and Em-face have at times put up their heads. They are Bec’s (lovely) sisters.
    • Rohan – Rohan is a funny one: he’d read my blog before I’d met him, but he was in the course I’ve been doing at Tabor. Lovely guy, always got something interesting to say. And he’s married to Kate who is equally as interesting and fun.
    • Burkie – Can’t believe I missed the penguin on my first attempt, but James Burke (wedding photographer extraordinnaire) along with his lovely fiancé Beth are also semi-regular commenters here. I know Burkie because Bec knows Burkie. But now I like Burkie as well.

    People I’ve Only Met Through Blogging

    • Asta – It’s been a while since I received a comment from my favourite Lithuanian reader – but I’m pretty sure that Asta is still catching up on TheGeoffRe(y)port. I was amazed to see a regular reader from Lithuania not that long into blogging, and it still makes me chuckle. I love it
    • Rick – Rick started reading and I started realising that I was actually out on the internet. He writes (much more often than I) at rianniello.blogpsot.com, and has some great stuff to say – especially for a religious-right calvinist (who’s also got a bit of Vineyard in him). Very fun and very funny. And he lived in Germany for a while!
    • Mark Edwards – You’d be hard pressed to find a man more blindly in love with a team that plays in purple than Mark Edwards. I initially connected a little bit with Mark after discovering that Ra’ah – the Australian pastors blog was linking through to me, and we’ve traded comments on each others blogs since.
    • Wayne Field - Same story as Mark only with less Fremantle ravings. These guys sort me out if I start getting too emerging :)
    • Rodney Olsen – Perth radio host, prolific blogger and all round nice guy – Rodney is always keen to connect with everyone and anyone in the blogosphere. He’s always got good things to say, and he was nice enough to surprise Bec and I immensely when he posted a congratulations up after our engagement.

    Now I’m sure there are people here that I’ve missed – if you let me know I might even edit you in here. But that might give you an idea of where people fit.

    Category Personal | Tags: ,,, | 7 Comments