second day - travelling back to Lakeland (Coonabarabran to Toowoomba)

Headed off when the kids left for school (& returned to get phone charger). Made it to Coona, where the tyre place was that had helped fix my trolley wheels/tyres in 2022CE. Asked about new tyres for the camper-trailer, unable to be procured in Orange Tyre shops. They had two in stock, and fitted them.

Thanks Jonathon and Warren (Warren has his back to us in the far right of this photo, but also see the blog for Monday 25July 2022CE) .

We kept the best extra one and tube to be added to the trailer spare. 

Dropped in to see Keith and Margaret in Narrabri who had hosted me in 2022 as I walked through Narrabri.

Thanks for the cups of tea & bickies.

Swapped driving, and Dave said he was going to go halves with me in the fuel (by paying for every second fill up). What? Talk about support crew! Thank you  Dave. And thank you creative love...

We drove  turn and turn about, 

Here's Dave driving me once we hit queensland. We listened to someone reading a first century letter about changing whole world-views and praxis to one with Jesus Christ as the model human. Originally written in ancient Greek, but this was translated into modern English. Still it was a very different world back then. We talked about stuff like male and female connected, being the model of divinity*. 

Then made it for a lovely Spag.Bol. at the King's place (Tez & Kath) with Sam & Eb, and their two daughters, little sweeties.

A lovely sleep, in a lovely bed. 

heading back to Lakeland (Qld) to resume the walk

Monday the car was fitted in for a rego slip (pink slip) at a mechanic in the nearby town of Canowindra. Thanks for fitting me in Ben! And my rego was renewed for another year, so it shouldn't be a problem when rego was due to expire early next month. Bought a truck battery for XTM battery box. And my daughter arrived on the train for her birthday on Tuesday. 

Well Tuesday I was trying to finish jobs with the car and house. A mate who is a chippy decided to come and help out on the walk as part of a support crew, driving up with me, leaving Wednesday Arvo. My eldest daughter's birthday celebrations this night.

Wednesday, last minute fitting of DC to DC charge cables for battery box, with Anderson plug on end. Removed Solar PV cell from car roof-rack, threw in bag of clothes and esky. Picked up Dave & his bags of gear. Went to see my wife Katrina at workplace, dropping off some gear I had mistakenly left in the car. When we got to her work place we found a bunch of friends visiting from Bendigo on a road-trip kind of pilgrimage. They said hello, and Goodbye and blessed us with a prayer for Godspeed and handfuls of autumn leaves falling down and waved as we left to drive off towards Dubbo.. what a lovely farewell from Orange! 

(From the left, Katrina my wife, Dave my support crew buddy, Arlia, Ainslie, Jonas and Rachel (& two of their daughters), Lucas, Raff, middle daughter of Jonas & Rachel, Emily. Thanks for your well-wishes, prayers, presence, and participation in the "leaving" process)

We joined my son and daughter-in law and three grand-daughters for dinner in Dubbo. I read some of "Dogman" to my grand-daughters, and my son Gilbert printed some coloured question cards with Australian bush scenes on them for us to discuss during the days of the walk. We slept on mattresses in their study that night. How rich.

..                                                                  ..

stepping out (& in)..

---

 

So I invite you to participate

within my world, surrounding, & inside

my virtual reality relate-

-ing not as just my friend whom I’d confide

in; but also Creator of the lot.

For that story about this world and you

admits the worst, bring's out the best we’ve got,

and makes most sense of process, life, and truth.

And now I want to de-program myself

from living as my godless nature wants -

and I see your great grace in giving health

& insight, choice in how my growing’s gone

so, you let me participate within

your own creative project, this whole world,

and this one self within it where you hurled

me, what an honour. What about my “sin”?

(My “falling short”, my less than ideal ways,

my immaturity, self-centred-ness,

my lack of want to integrate, display

some more of your commitment just to bless.)

I know it's here within me, lurking still,

and trying by its weedling to control.

The leader that you picked has showed how will

I ever step out, then take up what role

you have for me within your new cre-a-

-tion. And it's stroke of genius does the job

of pointing out a new and living way:

take up - my cross

, my king’s desires (don’t rob).

---

moving…walking…ON

("still" in Orange)

---

My God! There’s things in my life where I need 

some help to work out ways to do them well.

And not just one, but many, I concede.

But also there’s two tendencies from hell:

The one is to be lazy, in effect

to say it's up to you to make it work.

And often you have stepped in, and just swept

me up in your good purposes. You lurk

about the place, just trying to help out.

Supplying air to breathe, and often food,

some friendly face who smiles instead of doubts.

But sometimes my response has been quite rude:

instead of looking up, blessing your name,

instead of copying my father’s way

of seeing all the good that is to blame

for life continuing, then rightly say-

-ing something with my mouth to credit where

creative love has stepped in once again,

to be a kind of priest, who won’t just stare

zombie like, but look up, and disdain 

the kind of independence that won’t thank

someone for spreading goodness round the place.

My other tendency’s to “soldier on”,

not looking for my orders, “on my own”.

And you want neither. You want kids who’ll shine

out with your family’s spirit, like your Christ.

Oh, thank you for your gifts of love sublime:

his spirit, and his life - all sacrificed.

I love you, 

too.

---

Break Month 002 - (posting weekend Sat 9th Nov 2024)

Yep, more dependence on my walking (through life) partner ... 

Learning the disciplines of sharing life, with its ups and downs, trustingly, with a really good friend, or two.. Stretched to the edge of my capacity, then a bit more, I guess to learn to live in the space beyond my ego-self's boundaries and limits, as part of a family/ clan/ tribe that is bigger than "me".

Needs met and exceeded.

Almost too much to say. I'll try to put some more down... On topics like..

Work

Being creative. Changing the world, by looking for and participating in creative options, one step at a time, one day at a time, one leg at a time, with all that I am growing to be… it feels like I am learning to walk on water. A casual-relief teacher at a local High School. Helping humanity with house-renovations, and sharing accommodation and/or community with neighbours. 

Study

Reading about, and participating in presenting alternative culture to me-centred living. Still living in the afterglow of Ian McGilchrist’s book The Master & his Emmisary - on Left and Right Human brain hemispheres functioning. Adding some other books/podcasts looking at alternative cultural views on walking through life, focussed on and focussed by Yeshua Ben-Natzaret.

Community 

Sharing life deeply with neighbours on every side (& gaining a couple of “enemies”). Maintaing a rhythm of life that allows for slow deepening and real sharing of life, weekly walks around our community, joining in with a gym, meals shared with good friends & new friends, weekly coffee with a few blokes, sharing gear & the time of life with others…

"Mission"/ being "sent" into this world…

Not living to do what I want. There is a real paradox here, as soon as I try to put this one into words (which are not the realities they speak of, though they are meant to be related truly to them.

Living to play the rolê of a human, as understood through the cultural narratives of the Judaeo-Christian scriptures. A person, who looks at the big picture, and chooses to act for the good of the whole, prioritising the priorities.

Alongside others..

Choosing to keep connected, as deeply and truly as possible to the realities of people’s lives, as understood through their lived experiences, rather than through their virtual & verbal experiences.

---

Break-Month 001 (after Lakeland) Fri 4th & Sat 5th Oct 2024 …

… another kind of walking - through life - with the same walking partner, but on a break from this symbolic gesture, this pilgrimage/ NOBO walk.

Wow … big changes in me… a week or two ago a mentor died (of asbestosis) at 87yrs. And in celebrating, & recalling his life (including difficulties in my relationship with him, some of which I could see were needed for me to connect more deeply with creative love myself) I was challenged to see how I was living in line with creative love, rather than simply taking the path of least resistance, or choosing ways of relating to others that made me feel less uncomfortable. 

It was awful then, during this last week, on holidays with friends at the beach, to realise (at the cost of self-disclosure and vulnerability of someone-else), that I was parting company with creative love in my reactions to people who had proved to be very good friends, simply because they had similar weaknesses to me, and I didn't want to be reminded of (& encouraged in) my weaknesses. Instead of waging war determinedly and strongly on those uncreative, unloving habits of mine, I had pushed away some good friends. 

I chose to admit what I came to see as my self-preserving, pushing away of good friends; and asked my friends for their forgiveness. They smiled, and gladly forgave me. I knew creative love was wanting to push on deeper in this inward (& outward) journey or pilgrimage. 

On Friday, I shared a coffee and some stories of our recent holidays with a mate at Bunnings. Later, after sharing time with my Good Woman at the hospital, getting her surgical wound redressed, I walked around our community with another dear friend. We popped in to see one of his neighbours who has just been in hospital. No response at the door. We walked down to a local shop, bought a cold drink and sat on a park bench at a busy roundabout and talked about what we’re reading and thinking about, and watched the cars and kids on scooters going by, then walked to one of my neighbours’ place and had some interesting tea with him while we talked, at his request, about what things made us really happy, and helped with balance in our lives. A walk of rich sharing in life. Then a coffee with another dear friend who has been a speaker at a religious retreat last week, helping people respond to the spirit of creative love. Then dinner prepared by a loving daughter, with my Good Woman, my son-in-law and 2 small grandchildren, and after the kids were in bed, listening to a fantacy-sci-fi audio-book together over hot cuppas in the lounge. What a rich day. 

Saturday - we’ll see, then tomorrow I plan to have a cuppa in a local park with friends, then drive (with my wife & some friends) to Bendigo in Victoria for a celebration of my friend and mentor’s life. 

Oh, I want to keep on, in this journey with creative love through the middle of all of this. The walk continues. Now, I don't want it to ever end, even while I am back in my home-town and my trolley waits in Cairns or the Atherton table-land.

May I become like the 7th descendant in the line of Adam’s sons, Enoch, who instead of hiding & covering shame, went on that long slow walk with the creative love behind, and throughout, the Whole Universe, for the rest of his life…

… another kind of walking - through life - with the same walking partner, but on a break from this symbolic gesture, this pilgrimage/ NOBO walk.

Wow … big changes in me… a week or two ago a mentor died (of asbestosis) at 87yrs. And in celebrating, & recalling his life (including difficulties in my relationship with him, some of which I could see were needed for me to connect more deeply with creative love myself) I was challenged to see how I was living in line with creative love, rather than simply taking the path of least resistance, or choosing ways of relating to others that made me feel less uncomfortable. 

It was awful then, during this last week, on holidays with friends at the beach, to realise (at the cost of self-disclosure and vulnerability of someone-else), that I was parting company with creative love in my reactions to people who had proved to be very good friends, simply because they had similar weaknesses to me, and I didn't want to be reminded of (& encouraged in) my weaknesses. Instead of waging war determinedly and strongly on those uncreative, unloving habits of mine, I had pushed away some good friends. 

I chose to admit what I came to see as my self-preserving, pushing away of good friends; and asked my friends for their forgiveness. They smiled, and gladly forgave me. I knew creative love was wanting to push on deeper in this inward (& outward) journey or pilgrimage. 

On Friday, I shared a coffee and some stories of our recent holidays with a mate at Bunnings. Later, after sharing time with my Good Woman at the hospital, getting her surgical wound redressed, I walked around our community with another dear friend. We popped in to see one of his neighbours who has just been in hospital. No response at the door. We walked down to a local shop, bought a cold drink and sat on a park bench at a busy roundabout and talked about what we’re reading and thinking about, and watched the cars and kids on scooters going by, then walked to one of my neighbours’ place and had some interesting tea with him while we talked, at his request, about what things made us really happy, and helped with balance in our lives. A walk of rich sharing in life. Then a coffee with another dear friend who has been a speaker at a religious retreat last week, helping people respond to the spirit of creative love. Then dinner prepared by a loving daughter, with my Good Woman, my son-in-law and 2 small grandchildren, and after the kids were in bed, listening to a fantacy-sci-fi audio-book together over hot cuppas in the lounge. What a rich day. 

Saturday - we’ll see, then tomorrow I plan to have a cuppa in a local park with friends, then drive (with my wife & some friends) to Bendigo in Victoria for a celebration of my friend and mentor’s life. 

Oh, I want to keep on, in this journey with creative love through the middle of all of this. The walk continues. Now, I don't want it to ever end, even while I am back in my home-town and my trolley waits in Cairns or the Atherton table-land.

May I become like in that old story of the 7th descendant in the line of Adam & his sons, Enoch, who instead of hiding & trying to cover shame, went on that long slow walk with the creative love behind, and throughout, the Whole Universe, for the rest of his life…