Richard's Ramblings

  When I first camped in the Manse, the only desk among all the furniture which you lovely congregation supplied, was in the middle bedroom. If you’re familiar with the Manse layout, you’ll know that is right opposite my neighbour and our member, Helen Sugars. At the time, there was verdant foliage rambling (like this very article) around the fence separating us. And in this foliage, little birds swooped, nested and twittered all day long. The desk faced the wall, so my right ear, the one which sort-of functioned before my cochlear implant fixed the left side, was exposed to this avian symphony. It was so loud that even deaf me constantly heard it when I was at the desk, if I had my hearing aid in. I loved it. Sparrows made up the majority of those little birds. They were everywhere in UK when I was a boy, but it seems that they have disappeared or are disappearing from much of Europe. Here, they are healthy and omnipresent. Add nostalgia to the mix of sensations. As part of my chaplai

  Many of you know that Leisa and I have been house hunting. However temporary – only 6 months! – I thought my Townsville sojourn would be when I first turned up in July 2018, we have grown to love the city (but most of all, you all of course!) to which events have brought and kept us. So, we have put down roots here. We’ve said that before, mind you, and somehow we get uprooted. Man proposes, God disposes, is the saying. “ Homo proponit, sed Deus disponit” as Helen Beck would have taught it. It looks now that those roots will find a home in a lovely cottagey Queenslander in West End. Perhaps the most well-known allusion in scripture to house-hunting and house-finding is John 14. “In my Father’s house”. Literally, the Greek is “In the household of my Father remain many dwellings” or many abidings. Realestate.com.au displays icons like 2 🛏 ️  2 🛁  2 🚘  to let you know how many rooms/bathrooms/car spaces a house has. And it tags on a Google map so that you can find the place.  The dis

  Living here, you’ve all probably seen signs like this around Mission Beach and Etty Bay. I’ve driven the Tully-Mission Beach road many times, and always say to myself, “Yeah, yeah, no cassowaries here”. Because I didn’t see any (we did catch the obligatory big birds on Etty Bay beach). So it was with the usual cynicism that I drove the long way round through Bingil Bay to Mission Beach and back to the Feluga Pub (another story for another day) on Tuesday. But wait! Why is the school bus driver flashing his lights at me? And what’s that on the way to the boat ramp? And why has the car in front of me slowed down and moved out to the right? Yes, three of them in a ten minute period! Throughout history, people have been cynical about God’s promises, because they haven’t seen them fulfilled in their own lives. Of course, sometimes they don’t recognise what God has been up to in their lives. I write “people” and “they” and “history”, but I might just as well write “me” and “now”. The OT pr