Australia Day 1

Travelling for 19 hours on a plane to reach the first city in my tour of Australia passed as slow as you think it passed.
19 hours on a plane – add on the airport waiting time and it brings you to a total of 28 hours.
Even trying out the new A380 double decker super jumbo made it only interesting for the first hour –when they had a sky cam attached to the tail of the plane for you to watch the takeoff from! But then it was back to ordinary airplane food and cramped leg space – trying your best to sleep as you flew over nothing but water.
When I did the short 5 hour flight across Australia from Sydney to Perth the monotony was broken by the incredible golden coastline we hugged and the three bars of Cadbury chocolate I eat in place of more yuck airplane food.
Thank the Lord for Cadbury’s down under.

And while I seem to have begun my travels complaining, it is absolutely amazing that I am sitting nearly 10,000 miles from California reaching here in just over one days travel – safely.
Thank you Jesus and Qantas (which I discovered stands for Queensland and Northern Territories Aerial Services).

Apart from watching three pretty good movies Lincoln Lawyer, The Adjustment Bureau and the weird but funny Paul, I finished off two good reads.

Read #1 (which I finished between waiting in Fresno and reaching LAX) was a leadership book called It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy @ Captain D. Michael Abrashoff.
Fun read.
The story of turning the USS Benfold from one of the most dysfunctional ships into the go to ship in the Gulf War. Basis premise – give every sailor ownership of the ship, hence the book’s title. Revolutionary thinking in a highly pyramidical US Navy culture.

Read #2 was about Dean Karnazes called UltraMarathon: Confessions of An All-Night Runner.
This guy is incredible – he’s run the Badwater Race (Death Valley to Mount Whitney) in the summer heat where your shoes actually melt on the road surface! He’s run the Western States 100 (yep – 100 miles not 100km). He ran a marathon at the South Pole. The Relay Race is teams of relay runners running from Calistoga to Santa Cruz – 199 miles! Dean Karnazes ran it without a team ……. he ran all 199 miles himself and then ran a full marathon (26.2 miles) immediately after it!!!
Crazy.
Fanatical.
Possessed.
Or …..committed to what he can do well.

Both books stirred me as I flew to Australia.

My trip here is to work alongside the Salvation Army in Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney and coach on church transformation.

It was initially a 10 day trip talking in 2 cities; it’s now 17 days, 39 talks, 4 cities!

I needed stirring for this trip - so these books, amazing scenery and Cadbury chocolate has brought me that.

So to read #3 and the most stirring:
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.
Written over 400 years ago, the first modern novel, it is a classic and one of only 20 or so pieces of literature that have survived for more than 400 years.
Steven Sample suggests we give up reading new books and if all we read every year are the 20 or so true classics we would have done ourselves more good.
So here goes.
I’m at page 43 and its slow, different but in a strange way refreshing and intriguing.

Today (Thursday) I saw the Indian Ocean for the first time as I explored Western Australia.
Tomorrow – my main reason for being here begins.

I begin it with a 2 hour teaching on the Theology of the Trinity. Wonder if any will return for more on Saturday and Sunday.

So far I’d describe Australia as an English feeling place with an American overture. Unsure if that is a compliment.

Tomorrow I meet church leaders ……. brings purpose and the tangible to why I’m here.

Can’t come soon enough.

Heading to bed ……. still fighting the old jet lag and too much Cadbury’s!!