Tress and I are going to the footy this weekend. Pies v Hawks. We’ve been Hawthorn fans since we moved here and decided to go with a “local” team. So for a few years I quietly watched a handful of Hawks games every season, until it got a bit more exciting when we won the premiership in 2008. The heartache of losing to the Swans in the Grand Final last year has ebbed now. It was again frustrating to see them turn a 5 goal lead at half time to a loss against Geelong in the first round but the win against West Coast last week was exhilarating. After kiddo and friends’ trek to the MCG last week for the Pies v Blues game, I thought it is our turn this weekend. Very exciting.

 Meanwhile – someone just sent this through, with a quick reply from yours truly…

 From: Teh, Ian

Sent: Friday, 12 April 2013 2:52 PM

To: [ ];[ ]; [ ]

Subject: RE: In the lead up to the weekend

 

Good one, thanks [ ].

 

Consistent with what the Gospels reflect. I think this passage actually talks about the (first) coming of Jesus. God has always wanted to dwell among men and the first creation through Adam was intended for man to represent God’s presence among his creation but of course we all know what happened in Eden so Jesus comes to fulfill that original plan. Alas, that was God’s plan all along – to really dwell among men as a man! And in so doing showed us what the real Kingdom of God was meant to look like and how it was meant to behave.

 

At my present circumstances I am inclined to look at this passage in a different, parallel context but that would be a distortion I think…

 

How have you been?

 

 

 

Regards

IAN TEH

T: 03 9200 4897

M: 0477 700 602

 

From: [ ][mailto:[ ]@[ ]]

Sent: Friday, 12 April 2013 2:46 PM

To: [ ]; Teh, Ian; [ ]

Subject: In the lead up to the weekend

 

Ezekiel 34:1-16

34 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? 3 You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. 4 You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. 5 So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. 6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.

7 “‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: 8 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:10 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

11 “‘For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. 12 As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. 13 I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. 14 I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. 16 I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice

A couple of weeks ago while “shopping” for a book, I came across Alister McGrath‘s forthcoming new book on CS Lewis. My initial excitement was tampered when I tried to buy that book only to receive a response suggesting I had not read the blurp closely enough.

The book (C. S. Lewis- A Life: Eccentric Genius, Reluctant Prophet) was only going to be available from 11 April 2013. The kindle version, that is. The hard copy has been available for a few months apparently, but I am happy to wait for the kindle version.

So I filled the gap with a couple of “junk food” – Gary Neville‘s “Red” and Grisham’s “The Racketeer” – while waiting for the main event to arrive.

Last night on the way home I sat on the train straining through a third time filler – the so far very ordinary Ben Winter’s “A Policeman:…” and wondered if McGrath’s feature piece was available. Sometimes the published date is meant for another part of the world and us antipodeans often have to wait a little longer.

To my surprise however it was available. By the time the train pulled at at Blackburn and I got to the car and drove up to a parking lot to wait for Tress to arrive, the book was sitting in my kindle. I didnt start reading however till this morning. The first 10+ pages on the train this morning have been glorious appetiser stuff. I’m realy looking forward to slowly savour this one.

 

Related articles

• Alister McGrath’s new biography of C. S. Lewis (patheos.com)
• So much more than a champion of Christianity (standard.co.uk)
• Christianity’s Dangerous Idea, by Alister McGrath (tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com)
• Presenting the Narnia Creator to a New Generation (narniafans.com)
• New C.S. Lewis biography explores the man behind ‘Narnia’ (kansascity.com)

When faced with suggestion of one’s own flaws, do you blame others? Do you say it is because others dont see you for who you are and therefore the fault lies somewhere other than yourself?

Look at this re Gillard, who when faced with suggestion that hers has been a tragic prime ministership, suggested it was because Australians are not used to a female PM. What unmitigated poppycock.

I hasten to add that when faced with suggestion that one hasnt been a good pastor or church leader, dont say it is because others have different views of “doing church”. Objective listening and processing helps sometimes.

See this story re female PM across different eras and different continents. None have ever brought up the gender issue.

Facing fault helps.

———————————————————–

Thatcher never hid in Gillard’s haven

by: Niki Savva  (The Australian)

April 11, 2013

SHE has never married. She is childless. She is the first female leader of her country. Her enemies have referred to her, among other things, as a “political prostitute”. And no, her name is not Julia Gillard.

She is Park Geun-hye, recently elected South Korean President, who came to office promising to broker peace and instead prepares for conflict. Ms Park’s mother was killed by a bullet meant for her father, Park Chung-hee, who also served as president of South Korea. He was assassinated five years later by his own spy chief. If you are looking for a tough gig, try that one.

Or try being Angela Merkel, who assumed office as German Chancellor in November 2005, and a few years later watched as countries melted down around her. As she battled to forge rescue packages to save the eurozone, she had to convince her own people it was worth it, even as the citizens of the failing states protested on streets with banners likening her to Hitler.

Elizabeth was on the throne, but Margaret Thatcher ruled Britain from May 1979 until November 1990, when she was deposed by an internal coup. She broke the unions, forced Labour to remake itself, helped bring about the end of the Cold War, fought another war and won it, modernised Britain’s economy and shook English society to its core.

One French president, Francois Mitterrand, said she had “the eyes of Caligula and the lips of Marilyn Monroe“. Another, Jacques Chirac, described her as a “housewife” (could there be a worse insult from a Frenchman) and, according to her, other unprintable things. Thatcher confessed in her memoirs she liked them both, and in any case she was extremely adept at turning every insult to her advantage.

After she became leader, when her appearance was criticised, she changed it. According to her official biographer, Charles Moore, one of her advisers ran into Laurence Olivier and sought advice on what to do about her voice. Olivier arranged for her to have lessons from the speech coach at the National Theatre. She stopped screeching and spoke with authority. Then again, she usually had something worth saying.

In a speech in 1982, she said: “In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.” She revelled in her alpha female persona.

Tony Eggleton, the former federal director of the Liberal Party, was with Thatcher the night she was elected, knew her well and worked closely with her over many years.

Eggleton provided this recollection of her to me just two days before she died, in preparation for this column, conceived before her death: “Whether confronting war, terrorism, international tensions or domestic issues, she was every inch the resolute prime minister; being a woman was irrelevant. Those Brits who didn’t like her was because of her philosophy and the approach of her government, not because she was a woman. I never heard her express any gender doubts. Always supremely confident and in control. Concerns, anxieties, complexes about being a woman in the political front line? Never!!”

My query to Eggleton about Thatcher was prompted by an answer from Gillard to a question at the Foreign Correspondents Association lunch last week as she prepared to visit China.

Gillard’s typically sympathetic inquisitor referred to the extreme and incredible hostility towards her from some media and her parliamentary colleagues, and asked Gillard if she thought it was based on misogyny.

Gillard replied: “I think what I would say about being the first woman to do this job is a broader point, which is it’s not been ever the norm in our nation before for people to wake up in the morning and look at the news and see a female leader doing this job.

“For all of the years before, you would see a man in a suit. I am not a man in a suit, and I think that that has taken the nation some time to get used to.

“I think it’s probably still taking the nation a bit of time to get used to. I think it’s the same sort of journey that many other nations around the world are on, and it speaks really to the changing nature of our times, and the forward progress for women in societies like ours.

“But it’s got some uncomfortable moments along the way, there is no doubt about that, and I feel one of the things that will certainly happen, having had the first female prime minister, is it’s going to be easier for the second and then it’s going to be easier again for the third, and then everybody will get over it and forget about it and no one will even bother to comment any more whether the images of leadership in our nation that particular year are images of female leadership or male leadership.”

Gillard’s answer revealed she considered the reasons for her unpopularity, and knew exactly where to pin the blame: not on herself, but on us.

She has concluded her standing has nothing to do with competence or trust or devotion to principles or character and everything to do with her sex.

So, it’s not her fault, it’s our fault. We, Australians, have failed to adjust to the fact that we have a woman as Prime Minister.

It is impossible to imagine for a single moment prime minister Thatcher, or any of those other women leaders, saying anything remotely like Gillard said at any time and certainly not as they prepared to fly out to meet one of the most powerful men in the world.

India, Sri Lanka, Israel, The Philippines, Pakistan and Malta, to name but a few, have also been led by women, and you can’t say their societies were more egalitarian than ours, or more progressive than ours.

None of them complained they were the victims of sexism and misogyny, even if they might have been justified given the nature of some of the societies over which they presided.

The case unravels too when you consider that, like Gillard, they surmounted all obstacles to make it to the top.

Gillard’s comments last week look even sillier and even more self-indulgent alongside the acres of coverage given to Thatcher’s approach and achievements, and her own “tribute” to Thatcher, which could not get beyond the fact, OMG, that she was the first woman to lead Britain.

Gillard likes to talk tough, and there the similarity with Thatcher ends, because when it gets really tough, Gillard ends up hiding behind her own petticoat.

 

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Kiddo left on Monday and we (I) have just been motoring ahead mechanically the past few days. Last night I left early as we had an appointment with the Opposition Leader somewhere way down south. South Clayton isn’t a place we’ve been too a lot but last night Tress and I left work a touch early, got home around quarter to six and drove there to arrive just before 6.30pm for a multicultural dinner event organised by the Liberal Party. Tony Abbott was going to be the main speaker. We shared a table with a Liberal candidate for our constituency, Michael Sukkar, and met some other candidates. It was a very interesting evening and I think Tress enjoyed it too.

We got home just before 11pm, and as usual I couldn’t go to bed immediately so I turned on the tv with a little refreshment – the wine at the function wasn’t what I’d enjoy and certainly if I had to pay for it on top of having to pay for the event already. The Glen Livet single malt was very good. It was even better when I came across a channel which had a Cheers re-run just starting. It was the Shelly Long variety which was even better. It was so good to see the early stage of Woody Harrelson’s genius in flight. Frasier, Norm and Cliff were as funny as I remember them to be, as was the other short bartender – Carla I think, who is Danny DeVito’s real life wife I think. It was a good way to wind down before I eventually went to bed just before midnight.

A late night meant I skipped gym this morning. Also, I had an 8am meeting so it was a convenient day to skip gym.

My employer has had its head down for a while now – burrowing into the myriads of variables interplaying to sort out a happy place where shareholders comprising huge industry funds representing millions of employees, can be at peace with us as a major enabler and service provider, in ploughing in money to secure an IT system that works well.

I cannot imagine the complexities that go into a system which handles hundreds of thousands of employers all inputting data of millions of employees, and for the data and funds (as in money) to then go into the right funds, accounts, investments, insurance designs, benefits – and then to track and report as well as comply with the Amazonian body of superannuation laws.

That is why we have a whole section of people working in a separate building a couple of blocks away – analysts, programmers, all IT folks spread across half a dozen floors. I had to make my way there this morning, as I have countless times, to meet with a project manager to nut out yet another work statement for my Indian friends to sign off on.

This document is particularly important because it is a business end of sorts now and so many consultants are at hand to help plot the days ahead. Unimaginable amounts of money have gone into this work and the outlook isn’t any better. Chances are more dosh would be needed and relationships with shareholders will have to be delicately managed.

So all those stuff takes care of my day job. I still wake up at 5am most mornings, get to the gym, then into the office just before 8am, get coffee with the team at 10am, have lunch and walk around the block at 12.30pm, leave between 5 and 5.30pm, walk the little black furry friend at 6.30pm, have dinner at 7.30pm and then either read or watch the tele. Mon – Fri. Every week. Weekends I… better not start on that again.

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There was a scene from the movie “Iron Lady” which stood out for me. Alexander Haig the US Secretary of State had visited Mrs Thatcher and challenged her decision to go to war over Falklands. He suggested those islands were too remote for Britain to start a war over. Mrs T’s response showed the intelligence, urgency and alacrity of thoughts and action. She asked Haig was that why the US went to war in 1941, when Pearl Harbour was attacked. Hawaii was a remote part of the US, no?

I remember Falklands only for the fallout during the 1982 World Cup (or was it the 1986 competition?). It was when one Diego Maradona was introduced to the world stage. For me, it was the height of Bryan Robson era. Behind and above all that was the unmistakable ascendancy of Margaret Thatcher as the most powerful woman if not in the world, then certainly in Britain.

I remember reading about the coal miners’ strike and her determination to see out the long battles with the union. Then there were the privatisations. When finally jungle mike challenged her and she departed the scene, when John Majors wanted a “return to basics” era, it sounded and felt like a damp squib but everyone needed a breather from the drive and passion of Mrs T.

“He is someone we can do business with” or words to that effect, was how Mrs T described Mikhail Gorbachev and her role in engaging Gorbachev and the opening up of the Soviet Union and eastern Europe was another chapter. By the time Bill Clinton and then Tony Blair took centre stage, the world has become a very different place. Communism has lost its war, capitalism has gained unshakeable traction and a new prosperity was about to begin. Sure, there were costs but Mrs T and her friends – Gorbachev and Reagan – with their vision of liberal economy and liberated individuals have made it all possible.

Rest in peace, Baroness.

Related articles

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“Need focused, not race focused”. Dallas nailed it right there.

We moved from Malaysia nearly 10 years ago mainly to get away from a regime where Government aid goes to race based causes. That is racist no matter how you frame it. Focus on needs and the aid will still largely go to the intended beneficiaries but you will then weed out rorting elements.

 Nothing should be done on the basis of race and anything done on such basis is racist.

See this article here, extracts as follows

some people said that because they had some Aboriginal ancestry, they had rights and needs that were different from other Australians. When it comes to government spending and efforts to close the gap, it causes major problems

the large increase in the self-identified Aboriginal-descent population of southern states over the most recent census period

does it make sense that any and all who identify as Aboriginal should be entitled to the same benefits because they have some Aboriginal heritage?

Should those who self-identify as Aboriginal be exempt from being questioned when they are the recipients of funds aimed at closing the gap?

When we see soaring rates of Aboriginal university graduates, is this an indicator of success if the graduates are not disadvantaged and are largely indistinguishable from most other non-Aboriginal Australians?

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Kiddo’s back in Melbourne for a few days. She’s here with a few of her uni friends – all overseas students. 2 Singaporeans and 1 Ecuadorian. The Ecuadorian is the only Ecuadorian I have ever met. The only other one I know is Antonio Valencia – the right winger in Man Utd. I also saw once, on a Lonely Planet tv show, Ian Wright (i think) eating a whole deep fried guinea pig. We talked about that in passing last night, when we all sat down to dinner at the Old Kingdom in Surrey Hills.

They all enjoyed the Peking duck and the other stuff we ordered. I brought along my customary bottle of wine (still white but probably not much longer, with the cooling weather), which only a couple of them shared with me.

Having kiddo back is always great. Meeting up with lively, inquisitive, intelligent and participating young people is always invigorating. They wont be home much as they’d be travelling to various places in and around Melbourne but the house would feel more “lived in”. The little black jedi aka Scruffi would also enjoy the intrusion I’m sure. He loves company and last night he was super excited. Maybe it was having kiddo back but he was dashing about, darting here and there, eyes wide open and bright – all very cheery. Happy puppy… except he is no longer one. Just a very happy pooch.

I’m inclined to do something different on Sunday – just take a drive somewhere. Maybe out to the Yarra and seek out a market or vineyard. No more church for me. Maybe for now at least.

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From: Teh, Ian
Sent: Thursday, 4 April 2013 8:09 AM
To: [ ] ([ ]@yahoo.com)
Subject: Thanks – appreciate the contact

Hi [ ]

Thank you for your call last night, I appreciate that. Please be assured what has happened in recent months had nothing to do with you. You (and [ ]) are someone I knew from Malaysia so I guess that makes us old friends. Nothing has changed on that front.

Returniing to lifegate is out of the question for me. I cant be in a church where I am restrained from serving. As long as I don’t understand Tham Fuan’s statement that I only acknowledge the church leadership when it suited me, I can never serve freely. That statement means I am not to be trusted, that I am a fake. How can I remain in a church where the pastor accused me of that?

Tham Fuan has “apologised”  – it may sound ironic but that is taking the easy way out. What I needed wasn’t an apology, but understanding. One needs to spend time talking through things like that. Not a quickly blurted apology. I have said that to him before. But that is ok now because I no longer expect anything from him. He has shown nothing to suggest he is capable of, or wishes to, talk through that. I also no longer want to listen to him. No one should be expected to wait indefinitely – if the months following the event didn’t see any interest on his part, I should “cut my losses” and leave an organisation headed by someone like him. He has been that way from day one – uncommunicative and unresponsive. When it comes to personal relationships, being uncommunicative and unresponsive is a guarantee for failure.

Theresa and I continue to look for a church to call home. That has been very difficult for the reasons I said to you last night. But at least there is rationale for hope. Staying in lifegate does not provide that, as long as Tham Fuan carries on in the same way. There is nothing to suggest he won’t.

Thanks again [ ].

 Ian

I was told there was to be another one of those powwows’ last night. Also, missing the congregational life especially over the Easter weekend, made me think again about where to go this weekend. Tress suggested we should go to Edge again. We’ve not been there for what… 4 weeks now? These two events made me go on an early start this week, in looking for a church.

My quest for a new home continues. I have to say it has started to affect me in my walk with the Lord. Proceeding in this journey alone, has never been something I believe in. Yet, looking for a community to make the pilgrim has become a bit of a pain. I am starting to think maybe it is easier to just give up for a while – go do what many (most?) Aussies do on weekends and skip this church thing.

I’m inclined to say “thanks, Tham Fuan” one more time before ending this quest for now. I know this is down to my choosing from this point on. He has driven me out of my home, but he hasn’t caused – not directly anyway – this tiredness and frustration in looking for a new home. I no longer know what to look for and how to keep going.

Ordinarily, when someone reads an article in a major daily warning of more extreme weather in the future, one would just say yeah, weather’s changing – global warming is bad. An article like this certainly can create that sentiment.

If you see the source of this story however, you’d think maybe things arent so bad after all. The Australian Climate Commission sounds very official and therefore, believeable, right? If like me you read stuff other than major dailies however, things aren’t so straight forward.

I wonder what happens when an official government organisation loses credibility – or at least be challeneged for having been inconsistent, and therefore inviting to be discredited.

Both articles can be accessed here and here, with extracts reproduced below.

Victoria to suffer extreme weather, warn climate scientists

• by: Mark Dunn
• From: Herald Sun
• April 03, 2013 12:00AM

 

VICTORIA will be hard hit by extreme weather events in coming decades, says an Australian Climate Commission report.

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• PAPER: It’s the cold, not global warming, we should be worried about… (telegraph.co.uk)
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