Canberra -- call me 'crazy' but I love it

Some of my closest friends and many other think I'm mad for loving our national capital -- the magnificent Canberra -- or 'Cambra' as it's often pronounced locally.

There is so much to see in Canberra. It is a modern thriving metropolis less than four hours drive from Sydney. It has all the amenities that Sydney has to offer, but without the traffic chaos, expense and overcrowding.

Belinda and I just spent a delightful weekend there, enjoying meals at various restaurants, going to the Caravan and Camping show (we managed to park across the road within spittin' distance of the entrance!), and also seeing a movie in the city centre where we managed to park our car on the street right outside the cinema.

I love planning and setting aside opportunities like this for the sake of our marriage. I have learned over the years that no-one else will make your marriage a priority, so it is best to make sure you put the effort in yourself.

Outfit Selection Constipation

My friend Scott wrote this for Belinda. It relates to her search for a 'frock' she can wear to a wedding this coming weekend. I thought it was brilliant and laughed out loud when I read it at work -- hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Do you find that no matter how hard you try, that you simply can not select an outfit?

Do you feel disappointed and lethargic about your outfit selection efforts?

Does the thought of trying to find another outfit make you feel queasy?

If so, then you suffer from outfit selection constipation.


Outfit selection constipation is a problem that effects people as they get older.

It is caused by the unhealthy combination of too many bills and not enough money.

It is accentuated when combined with putting others before yourself

Do not despair, there is a cure.


When taken according to instructions, Spousal Intervention is 90% guaranteed of giving you the chance to relieve your outfit selection constipation.

Spousal Intervention involves relieving you of the selection decision, thereby relieving you of the guilt and burden so often associated with outfit selection constipation.

Simply take Spousal Intervention aurally and relax as your outfit selection constipation dissipates naturally.

Take Spousal Intervention and be free from outfit selection constipation.

(Spousal Intervention can be found for a limited time this afternoon at Chatswood)

Spousal Intervention is a registered Trade Mark of Wes Dart Industries. Contact Belinda Dart Pty Ltd for further information on outfit selection constipation.

Helping Hands Not Pointing Fingers

Belinda passed this on to me today -- I think it's absolutely excellent...

Read Acts 18:24-28

None of us comes to the Christian faith completely formed. We are works in progress. How we progress depends much on how other Christians deal with us. This passage shows us how one man, Apollos, was able to overcome his deficiencies and become a fine Christian leader. And how Priscilla and Aquila were instrumental in that. Apollos was already eloquent and passionate and educated when they met him. Yet somehow he had some gaps in understanding. So they took him aside and privately filled in the gaps.

How easy it is to do something different. To take such a person down a peg or two in public, showing up their ignorance and allowing the critic to claim some sort of superiority. To mount a whispering campaign to undermine that person which would be a more discreet assassination. Or to take no action at all. To hide behind niceness, "don't want to make a fuss do we?" "Don't want to hurt anyone's feelings do we?" Such "niceness" is often timidity in disguise and does no good because it doesn't address a real issue.

Priscilla and Aquila took another option. They confronted Apollos with the problem but did so privately. No gossip, no public put down, no cowardly avoidance. They put him right in a way that did no damage but much good. Which is what we long for. Someone to move us on in the faith but without shaming us or demeaning us. Someone who cares enough to confront, but who confronts with discretion.

Apollos went on to be an effective church leader. Priscilla and Aquila didn't just see who Apollos was. They saw who he could become. Each of us needs others who will speak the truth in love to us that we might become who were made by God to be. We are not, after all, to be defined by our deficiencies, but by our potential in God.

Blessings
David Reay