Leg 4; Rest Day (Friday 6th Sept 2017)

Amen, thank Him for his truth and his way,
May he help us live in it, through night and in day,
Thanks that he leads in wisdom and light,
It makes me sleep peacefully, tomorrow'll be 'right.

.......... - ..........

Peace fully given, yet we learn each bit,
that's piece by piece until we've walked the way,
& know it top to bottom, all of it
(well, might be we're more  known by it, I say).

For as we've opened up ourselves to Peace
(that's "Shalom" in the Hebrew, they tell me,
they say that peace's lovers never cease,
it's blessings were pronounced by heavenly

bright angels at the birth of "Prince of Peace" -
his way of truth & love is peace's way,
& he told his ambassadors then please
to bless all lovers of peace who will pay

the price to welcome, aid, & abet it,
who put their money where their mouth is too,
they will not talk and then just forget it,
they learn to live it out, as  rare folk do!

They have a kind of hope beyond this world,
they see beyond the biological,
might not be in their life-time when unfurled,
but peace's flag & rule is magical,

yet real as steel, & solid as a brick,
it has a diff'rent pow'r that's based on love,
it's creativity is not a trick,
it does the work, & yet it will not shove!

It truly thanks, then looks, responds, & sleeps
- at peace,  that other hands are working too
(yet if it wakes it is not scared, & peeps,
expectant) banks that truth & love win through.

PW

Leg 4; Day 10 (Thursday 5th Sept 2017)

Leg 4; Day 10 (Thursday 5th Sept 2017)

A very interesting day today. I woke up and my foot was so sore I knew I couldn't walk anymore so thought I'd better go to the doctors and do what I could to get over this gout. We found the new-ish (1 year old) Pakenham Medical Centre with rave reviews on Google & had a good chat with the doctor there who owns it. He gave me enough stuff to get me back on the road a.s.a.p. We went back home, packed up and left our old van site, & Katrina drove us for a coffee to Cranbourn, where i made a sketch of a bloke i found there:

Foot was still not good enough to walk, so we went early to another Van Park in Dandenong. Foot still bad, so had lunch, more tablets,  reassured God (& us) that it was up to him if I was going to be able to make it to a functioning station in the Melbourne system.

Long loo break and write the poemish thingo below. Saw a sign on the way out of the shower-toilet complex, which got me thinking more generally of life (see pic). Booked  flights from Rockhampton next week. Talked with my eldest daughter on the phone. ...

At 4 or 4:30 I thought "I think it's got better enough, that it's worth trying at least to finish the walk to Cranbourne station". Katrina drove us in the car, Grego said yes he'd come (better than staying in his tent) and we headed back to Clyde General Store, where she dropped us off (see pics), I found my sticks where I'd inadvertantly left them and....

We followed the railway line all the way to Cranbourne Station where I put my sticks under a fence so when I come back I might be able to use them when I come again, and rang Katrina. Left a voice-mail & txt,  didn't hear back for ~ an hour. Very cold wind. Number of trains and buses came and emptied their people here. We took a pic (see above), then an old friend rang. I got to write this.

On the way, following the train line enabled some big short-cuts for us (maybe 5km instead of 7.8km) but we couldn't read at the same time to prepare for telling alternately, so I just told the stories of Mark 10 & we reflected as we were able. We got to think about Jesus and "family-authority" - marriage, children, young man, ruling, bringing the kind of clarity that family love, inclusion, & service brings.

The next leg will be from Cranbourne Station to Melbourne's heart, or cetres of authority, and maybe beyond, we'll see...

waifer us..

Oh God we love the way you see, and do.
The way you listen, come down, get involved!
When I grow up, I want to be like you.
Impart your view & love to me disolved

within my food and drink, & air I breathe,
I want to be "connected" - branch in vine.
I now recall that statement (I believe)
that all the food of this world, is divine..

divine love that's made edible for us
to take in freely, yes, it grows on trees!
And this is to display the kind of fuss
you make of us. Caressing in the breeze

[or breath, or wind, or spirit - the same word
in ancient Hebrew (or the Greek) they say.]
You want to give your mind to those who've heard,
& listened to, all those you've sent our way.

To speak of "way", it makes me think of "weigh";
how you want us to weigh up what we hear,
& not to be naive, to know folk say
not only what is true, & good, & clear.

Sometimes we have to exercise our brain,
- but more than brain, to check our motives too,
& exercise your love which comes again,
as varied as the animals 'n a zoo,

and gladder than them not to live in vain.
In fact, your love and view give meaning to
our lives which otherwise have nothing gained,
for meaning-more I turn my gaze to you!

PW

Leg 4; Day 9 (Wed 4th Sept 2017)

It was a very eventful day. We woke up about 7:30 and had some breaky. My foot was increasingly sore for the last few hours of the sleep time, and when I woke I realised it was probably gout not a missfitting new shoe, as I supposed the night before. I'd been without the shoe on all night and it had got worse  So I took a few gout tablets and we headed off.

We started where I had finished off the night before, joined up with the Koo Wee Rup rail trail (see pic) when it finished we went back to a road, then tried the disused railway later on. Many blackberries... but we made it accross 6 creeks/ culverts with water in them (see pic) then back to road (see pic), & rail (see pic) & road.

Meanwhile, after an hour or two I realised "I'm taking the wrong tablets - taking preventative gout ones not the culturzine that helps get rid of it when you've got it, and I switched  to the right ones ... but it didn't fix it. During the day it slowly got worse & we had to pull up at a little place called Clyde. CLYDE General Store & Post Office on Station St., after having done only about 18 kilometres for the day.

Katrina came and got us and we popped into Woolies and got some groceries on the way home. came home, had showers and dinner (lovely Thai chicken, cooked by Katrina). We sat outside for, & after dinner tonight (see last pic).

When we left home in NSW (Orange), without my plane tickets,  i thought i'll just access them from my phone. Now that I am checking it looks like I may not have actually booked the plane trip up to my school reunion this weekend. I was sure I had, but so far there's nothing coming up for it. Eek! (Jetstar is out, got to check with Virgin)

Today in our meditation - we read through and listened to Mark 9 - well, we got about 4 stories into it and we've got 3or 4 to go. But Greg is going to sleep now, so we'll try to finish it in the morning. 

An amazing chapter that seems to be largely about "prayer" - well learning to see life, this world, & especially difficulties (yes, i saw the irony or amazing applicability to me with my gout) from God's point of view. Learning to have God's creative, overviewing mindset.

I think of that phrase God used with Jeremiah (ch 23) about the false prophets of their country, God said "~Which of them has stood in my council to see and hear my word?... if they had stood in my council to see and hear my word they would have spoken my word to my people and turned them from their wicked ways."

An interesting phrase... "stood in my council" - especially looking at the first story in Mark 9. Is this "prayer" or something else? Luke says it was. Mark 9 hardly says the word "prayer", but it does once, at an important point. The previous 2 chapters each describe an instance of Jesus praying, without saying that word.. is it this that is aluded to in the first 2 stories of Mk 9? Got me thinking ... more.

PW

Leg 4; Day 8 (Tues 3 Sept 2017)

Leg 4; Day 8 (Tues 3 Sept 2017)

Today was pretty special we slept in till about 7 then had brekkie and left by 8:30 and got to our starting point at Loch by 9am. We took the abandoned train line at first (see pic), to a little place called Nyora.  Greg walked between the tracks, I walked on a rail, with two sticks helping me ballance, and it got us there in good time. Bought a nice coffee from the general Store. (Concreting their floor, because of white-ants).

Then we took the road from Nyora along McDonald's track to Lang Lang (see pic), bought a cold drink at IGA, and tried the train track out to the highway but was stopped by blackberries so we had to treck through neighbouring empty cow-fields to get back onto the road, just as  Katrina rounded the corner of the highway to pick us up. Coffee to end the day at yhe Lang Lang bakery, where we heard the first installment of Katrina's second story (the first being Newcastle Street).

Bought some butane on the way  "home" to air a damp matress, and early showers, dinner, and got ready for bed. Now Katrina & I are back to TWO skinny foam mattresses! Looking forward to a nice night's sleep. 

After tea I asked Katrina and Grego if they would feel like I was double-crossing them if I walked a further 10km in the cool of the evening to make it less to do tomorrow (or more possible to make it to Melbourne at the end) - and they were both ok with it. So - Katrina drop me back to Lang lang and I walked about 10 km, up to the pub over the road from Woolies at Koo Wee Rup, while I caught up with Sam on the mobile phone. I ran out of battery not long before the end, and hsd time to recharge the batteries before ringing Katrina to pick me up. I kept walking till she got to me and took a photo (or 10; our cameras wouldn't adjust to the reflective vest I was wearing - we think.... see pic - best we could do)

Got home again into bed by 10:30 so that's good!Today we talked as we went about Mark 8: "Jesus and the dud's!"; Dud disciples who didn't learn & take up their second chance opportunity to learn to feed people that God had brought into their lives;  the dud leaders of the People of God who're just looking for keeping theological prominence & their  positions of power & influence (sounds familiar), under the guise of responsibly looking for signs of authenticity in this new Rabi (yhey were jealous of); the dud healing of the blind man (Jesus shows how he handles it); and then finally someone gets it right - Peter  recognises Jesus as the messiah (!) but then really "duds it" by  bringing his ideas of Messiah into his statement over against  listening to the Messiah himself (!)... Jesus says to Peter "Out of my way Satan!", then calls all his followers together saying if you want to follow me you've got to be a bigger dud in the eyes of this power hungry system... "You've got to deny yourself, take up your cross (Rome's best attempt at humiliating,  shameful,  suffering, painful death), and follow me - I'll show you how it's done."Interesting stuff, got us thinking.  Great to talk and think about it as we walked together.

Walking through such beautiful countryside, I remembered Luke 12 "look how the Wildflowers grow! They don't work or make clothes for themselves, yet God clothes them. I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers (see pictures).

PW

Day 7 (Monday 2 October 2017)

Day 7 (Monday 2 October 2017)

Roadside travelling today . Up and down rolling hills, through trees out again beside pastures (see Pics). Along the highway, but there was a good verge or shoulder along the side of most of it. We travelled from Leongatha to  a little place called Loch. I was hoping to make it the extra 7.5 km to Nyora, but Grego's feet weren't up to it. As it turns out mine might not have been either...

The (spider?) bite and growing infection are diminishing as I finish the antibiotics. But I tried my new walking boots for half of the day yesterday. ...
Then swapped over at 12noon... along with some new socks.. my ankles were showing a (slightly itchy) rash that arvo when I took the socks off... the boots, or the socks, or just things hesting up?

On the meditation front... amazing. "Chapter 7" - we started with the last story-let in ch 6 as the "overlap story" (beautifully ending of the story cycle before it, then beautifully leading us into the next cycle of stories.

Unclean and clean amazing! The stories sprang out at me freshly as I hear Grego tell them, as we walk along, with some solitude just before or after it... Seeing this world and our social structures, & cultural uses of it freshly...

Then Greg told me bits and pieces of his recollections as a child, & in and out of trouble. GOD "showed up", Grego woke up, & he had a chance... but difficulties continue...

Grego shouted us Fish n Chips for tea. We sleep tonight at Parkham Caravan Park... Paul.