The Rick Hawkinson Blog | KillerHawk.com

Mama I'm commin' home...

Rick Hawkinson — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 14:21:28 EST

Boarding a plane tonight at 11.

Can't believe it's been two years.

Lot's to say.

Later.

For now, the important thing is that there is a big bash that Logan is throwing to welcome me back. Going to be lots of fun. If you're anyone...you'll be there!! Here are the details:

Rick will be home for good from Australia at the end of May and we want to celebrate!

Please join us for a Welcome Home Party Friday, May 29 at 6:30 at the home of Jeremy and Logan Wolfram (8 Clairborne Way Simpsonville, SC 29681).

Please bring an appetizer or dessert to share.

Children are welcome.

We would love for you to help us spread the word, so please feel free to forward this e-mail to anyone you think would want to come.

Hope to see you on the 29th!

Thanks,
Logan

The Rescue - April 25, 2009

Rick Hawkinson — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:42:47 EST

I hope a bunch of you who are reading this are getting ready to abduct yourself and wait to be rescued. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you REALLY need to take a look at http://therescue.invisiblechildren.com

I'm passionate about these children because, well Jesus was - and he said, over and over for his followers to take up for those who can't take up for themselves. well - I don't know of a better opportunity.

And even putting the 'Jesus' stuff aside - what's happening in Uganda is just wrong...by any standard. During this civil war, Joseph Kony has abducted over 30,000 children to serve in his army. THIRTY THOUSAND!!! He forces them to serve by fear. Those who are weak, slow, crying, he kills in front of the others. Those that try to escape, he kills as an example. Thousands more people have been senselessly murdered or maimed by his army - the LRA.

If this was happening anywhere in the Western world, it would be frong page news - and somebody would be doing something to combat the situation. But for some reason, since it's Africa, the media/rest of the world doesn't seem to care? Are these people not as valuable? Do these children not deserve...to be children?

Check out the video - and then watch all the other videos you can on the "More From" section on youtube.

And then go to www.invisiblechildren.com and watch some more.

And then TALK about this issue. To friends at work, to guys on the basketball court, to people at our LOST parties. Maybe even write a letter to a senator...about something other than how stupid Bush is, or how bad a job Obama is doing.

Find someone who has a copy of the Invisible Children documentary - or buy one off the website and watch it.

Seriously.

OK, I get it. It's been a while...

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:15:32 EST

So, I'm looking at the date of my last post and wondering what time warp I fell into and lost a whole month. I apologize for the absence, and thank those of you who sent me emails 'lovingly' requesting that I get off my rear and post.

Eight weeks as of last Thursday and I'll be on my way back to the States. And as you can imagine, the question I am asked - pretty much daily - is, "How are you feeling about leaving Australia?"

How am I feeling? Well, there's not really a simple answer.

It continues to blow my mind how God is working through the group of people that is churchfreo. It's awesome to watch these guys embrace that being a follower of Jesus is a lifestyle, not just a Sunday thing. Loving God - loving others. And also to see people honestly wrestle with religion - and the detrimental effects it can have to our walk, and our ministry. I've also build some cool friendships here, which after a couple of years have really started to deepen.
So for these reasons, and others - it will be a bit hard to leave. But I also have an incredible peace and prompting leading that it's time for me to head back to Greenville. Moving back comes with a bunch of unknowns as well - especially in our 'thriving' economy. And while my normal MO would be to be stressing, I have this amazing peace.

So I guess the answer would be that it's definitely bittersweet to be leaving - but it's amazing to be in His grip.

List Update: A couple of posts ago, I revealed 'The List' of things I wanted to do before I left Australia. Several of you have asked how that was going so:

1. Write 5 songs (hopefully I'll post as I complete them).
*Three down (already posted) two to go.

2. 'Borrow' Jimmie Lynn's telephoto lens and take lots of close up portrait pix of the people of Freo - and put them together in some cool way.
*Have spent one afternoon doing this and got a bunch of good shots. It's kind of sobering scrolling though these pictures of strangers - and viewing them not as strangers, but as people who desperately need Jesus - like me.

3. Take a week and travel north up the coast to see and dive the Ningaloo reef.
*Something I've realized about myself while I've been here is that I really don't like to travel by myself. The best thing about traveling - for me - is sharing it with someone. And since my friends here actually have jobs, and can't just take a week off to go diving with me - I'll probably put this one on hold.

4. Play in at least two 'open mic' nights in Freo.
*1 down, 1 to go. Last night I played at a club called MOJO's and it actually went really well. Crowd was good - probably between 75 and 100, and at nobody threw any tomatoes. I played 4 songs:
One More Time - Kristy Lee
Georgia on a Fast Train - Billy Joe Shaver (had to share some of our great southern stereotypes with the Aussies)
DreamGirl - David Harris, (and me) - my roommate Del played djembe and sang back-up on this one - it rocked. (picture above)
I'll Be - of course I had to introduce a little Edwin McCain to this country.

I've gotta say thanks to all my peeps who came and supported. You guys are the best.

5. Finish reading through the Bible (got about 1/3 to go).
*Finished - now hitting the gospels again. Just can't get enough of that Jesus guy.

6. Help Nick (guy from churchfreo) start an exercise program.
*Slowly but surely this is happening. He's started walking, and we're moving from there.

7. Get a churchfreo web page up and running.
*In the process. Scott Stevens - from YourMark.com - has graciously volunteered his company's services (like he did to set up and host this blog) - and we're in the design stage.

8. Busk (if you don't know the word - look it up) at least 5 times in Freo.
*Have done this twice. Busking is and interesting experience, and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in playing live. I played for about an hour each time, and made about $50. Not to shabby.

9. Hang out with the Linkston kids a bunch.
*Happening

10. Play golf with Chuck hopefully 6 or 7 more times.
*I think we're on like #5. And planning on playing Thursday.

11. Spend several full days in Freo - praying for the city (may combine with #2).
*Have done this a couple times. "Full days" being like 4-6 hours. I can't begin to explain the impact this has had on me. As a lot of you know, I love to people watch, and I've started calling my prayer time in Freo as "people watching with a purpose." God had used this time to really put things in perspective for me. As I begin to pray for these total strangers, it's like He uses this time as a 'squeegy' to wipe the dirt and grime and bug splatters of pride and selfishness off my 'windshield' - which has given me some really cool clarity.

12. Go to an Aussie Rules Football (Footy) game.
*The season has just started, but my good friend Caitlyn is working to set this one up.

I've also been reading a lot. Mostly fiction, but I have just started 'Hearing God' by Dallas Willard. I've had it for a while, by have just opened it in last couple of days. I'm only on chapter 3, but it looks like this is gonna be a good one. (Thanks Stuart Hayes) I'm thinking my next post will probably have some Willard quotes.

Until then...

Couple of songs

Rick Hawkinson — Wed, 4 Mar 2009 21:53:41 EST

I promised I'd post a few of the songs I've been working on, so here they are:

This first one basically was written out of frustration to 'The One' asking her why she hasn't come around yet. Cheesy...yes, but it's been a fun one to work on. Some of my friends over here have donated their skills and we've pretty much got this one recorded. Just got to get the keyboards down, and then do the final vocals. Have to give a lot of props to my friend David (the poet) who took a lot of my useless ranting I had written down and turned it onto the foundation of what you see below. I added the tune, and changed it up a bit

Dream Girl

Teardrops, broken hearts
Real world, we fall so hard
Sleep now. Let me meet the one please
Daylight. she’s taken from me

Girl, I can't wait to meet you cuz
You know I miss you so much
I’m sorry to all those others who
I’ve tried to substitute for your touch
(The one’s I’ve tried to make my)
(chorus)

chorus
(Dream Girl) I’m stuck in the real world
(Dream Girl) But I will not settle
((Dream Girl) For anyone but you - Baby you’re my
(Dream Girl) I’m so ready
(Dream Girl) I’m prayin’ God’ll bless me
(Dream Girl) And bring you round real soon
So come and by my - dream girl

Moonlight. It’s your world.
But by sunlight you’re no girl
I snap out, and you’re not with me
You’re makin’ my life so lonely

You may only ride the air but
Sometimes I can smell your hair
So vividly on my mind
But reality seems two steps behind
(Behind of my)
(chorus)

bridge
Will you still love me by the light of day?
Will you still love me baby, come what may?
And if the sunshine don’t flatter me
How long will you stay?
How long will you stay...and be my
(chorus)

The words for this next one were pretty much entirely written by David. When I read them I knew we had to put them to music. At churchfreo, we've really been learning about love. God's love for us, and his command for us to love others. This kind of love is not easy. It can get messy, uncomfortable, and time consuming...and beautiful. Unimaginably beautiful.

Stone's Throw

There's a man stays under the bridge
Over the road from where I live
And he knows that money makes the world go
I've never said hello
He didn't have no place to go
And he came from over the rainbow

Two worlds set apart
Is there a solution
This world could us a change
Could use a revolution

Well it changed one summer day
He crossed the road and came my way
Told his story of how he was laid low
He'd had the perfect life he claimed
But those were days before the rain
Before his demons came and joined the show

Two worlds set apart
Is there a solution
This world could us a change
Could use a revolution

The green rules my world
Made of diamonds and of pearl
And to his kind I've always ever said no
Not sure quite where to start
I know it's gotta come from my heart
Gotta help him back on the rainbow

Two worlds set apart
Is there a solution
This world could us a change
Could use a revolution

Well his story shames me
Now I know he's like me
And we've got the same blood flow
So jump off your rainbow
It's just a stone's throw
Between you and that poor old soul
Between you and that poor old soul

Two worlds set apart
There is a solution
This world could us a change
Could use a revolution

As I've said in several earlier posts, we at churchfreo are really trying to figure out what it looks like to walk in the kingdom of heaven - here, now. As we've been studying the word - and listening to each others stories, several key concepts seem to be surfacing over and over. Love, grace, surrender, selflessness, community - among others - and I've really been wanting to put these to music. I've only got the chorus so far - I'll post the rest when I finish.

How To Live

Teach me how to live
Teach me how to love
Teach me how to walk in your kingdom

Cause I don't wanna be
Living just for me
I surrender all I am to You

As I seek Your face
Fill me with Your grace
Give me strength to walk in your kingdom

So others too may see
This joy I have in me
Teach me how to live

The home stretch...and noise reduction

Rick Hawkinson — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:20:17 EST

So for those of you who I haven't told, it looks like I'll be back stateside in early June. The plan from the beginning was to be here two years and then see how/where God would lead. Well, it looks like He's leading me back to Greenville (it's either Him or my desperate need for some good Mexican food!).

I'm really excited about my remaining 4 months in Fremantle. I quit my job last week (figured the last thing I'd be wishing I'd done more of in Australia was working 10 hour days at the dive shop) and have begun to make a list of the things I still want to do while I'm here. Now, I'm not a big fan of making lists like this, cause then I put pressure on myself to complete all the items on the list...and I miss the pleasure in the process - but here goes:

1. Write 5 songs (hopefully I'll post as I complete them).
2. 'Borrow' Jimmie Lynn's telephoto lens and take lots of close up portrait pix of the people of Freo - and put them together in some cool way.
3. Take a week and travel north up the coast to see and dive the Ningaloo reef.
4. Play in at least two 'open mic' nights in Freo.
5. Finish reading through the Bible (got about 1/3 to go).
6. Help Nick (guy from churchfreo) start an exercises program.
7. Get a churchfreo web page up and running.
8. Busk (if you don't know the word - look it up) at least 5 times in Freo.
9. Hang out with the Linkston kids a bunch.
10. Play golf with Chuck hopefully 6 or 7 more times.
11. Spend several full days in Freo - praying for the city (may combine with #2).
12. Go to an Aussie Rules Football (Footy) game.

And I guess the biggest things are to continue to push myself in the areas of loving God and loving others. Pushing myself while constantly remembering that there is nothing I can do that will make Him love me any more, or any less. Grace is CRAZY isn't it?!?

My time here has taught me so much about myself. It's kinda funny, because I never really had the idea that I would come to Australia and fix a bunch of stuff that was wrong over here. God pretty much told me from the beginning that my time over here would be used to help with churchfreo...yes, but mainly for He and I to do some real business. What I kept hearing from Him was, "Rick, I've got some stuff for you to do...but you and I need to have some time - some time away from all the noise."

Mmmm...noise. I pretty much love the noise. The noise drowns stuff out doesn't it? To be able to sleep at night, I have to have a noise maker...something constant to drown out all the little creaks, groans, cars going past, etc. Well, my life was pretty much the same. The busier I am, the more 'noisy' it is, the less I have time to dwell on things. Things that I need to dwell on. Noise is awesome at masking sin. Noise is also very efficient at drowning out God's voice.

I'm pretty sure that's why He created the sabbath - so that periodically we'd take some time to put in our Bose noise ca celling headphones and listen to/for Him. And I'm not talking about a 'no working on Sunday' sabbath - I'm talking more like a 'get yourself out of the noise' time. A time/place where you can turn off the cell phone, the IPOD, and Facebook. A time/place where you can do some serious 1 on 1 with God.

I have a friend who every month or so takes a full day. He has this great mountain trail that he loves, and he starts at the bottom with "Alright God, I'm not coming down from this mountain until you talk to me." And he says that he's crying his eyes out after a couple hundred yards or so because God is speaking - pointing out sin - giving direction - loving.

Well, He took me to Australia. I think He knew that I liked the noise way too much. That He had to do something drastic like take me all the way across the world - to the most remote city on earth...to help reduce the noise. And let me tell you...the silence has been deafening.

I'll get more into specifics in later posts, but I wanted to use this one to maybe get you thinking about the 'noise' in your life. Is there something keeping you from talking to God? Is there something keeping you from hearing him? My advice would be to try shutting out the noise for a bit. Revel in the stillness and silence...because He will speak.

In the secret, it the quiet place
In the stillness You are there
In the secret, in the quiet hour I wait. Only for You.
Cause I want to know You more.

Word association...and big fish.

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 3 Feb 2009 15:54:00 EST

So let's play a little word association for a minute. I'll give you a word, and I want you to say the first word or phrase that comes into your head. Ready:

Australia.....
I'm assuming you said something like kangaroo, or crocodile dundee, or the crocodile hunter - right?
(this works so much better in person)

Michael Jordan......basketball, unbelievable, bulls
Exercise.....pain, loathe, no freaking way, healthy
Chick-fil-a....addictive, cows, iced tea
Wall Street....money, greed, eating my 401K
ESPN....sports
LOST....back on in a week!
Golf....Tiger Woods
Jonah...whale

Did you say 'whale' for Jonah?
I did, or at least I would have until about a year ago when I read Jonah - while trying to read through the prophets - and realized the whale (and in the story it's actually called a fish, not a whale) plays a very minor part in the story.
If you've got a bible close - take a couple of minutes and read Jonah. It's only 4 short chapters - it'll only take you a few minutes.
Seriously...go read it.
I'm totally not kidding.
Now ;)

So, to recap. God tells Jonah, His prophet, to go to Nineveh and tell them change their ways because He was tired of their wickedness. Jonah instead goes in the direct opposite 'running from the Lord' (we aren't really told why at this point), gets on a boat which gets stuck in a storm. Jonah knows it's because of him, so he tells the sailors to throw him overboard.
God saves him from drowning by providing a 'whale'(fish) to swallow him. Jonah spends a few days in the fish's stomach (this must have been pleasant) - and prays a pretty cool prayer - remembering that salvation comes from God.

So the fish spits Jonah out, and the Lord commands him a second time to go to Nineveh. This time he does, the people of Nineveh heed his words (I always wanted to use 'heed' in a sentence), change their minds and their ways and cry out to God.

God hears them, and decides not to bring about the destruction He had planned.

At this point, Jonah throws a major temper tantrum and we find out why he didn't go to Nineveh in the first place. He didn't believe the Ninevites were worthy of saving. God's saving these guys 'seemed wrong' to Jonah and he cries out:
(Rick's paraphrase) "This is why I ran in the first place. I know your heart God! I know you love your people, and that you are stoked when the come back to you. I knew you'd save these Ninevites...and I just don't believe they're worth saving! So just kill me now!! I'm so freaking mad....just kill me!"

He stomps out to the outskirts of Nineveh and sits to sulk.

Now - it's really hot, so God provides a plant to grow and shade Jonahs head - and Jonah is happy about the plant. Then God 'provides' a worm to eat the plant - it dies - Jonah starts to get hot and throws another temper 'rant-rum'.
"Please God, just kill me now. Kill me. Kill me"

I love God's reply.
(Again, Rick's paraphrase) "Your mad about this plant dying? This plant that you did nothing to make grow. But your upset that I showed mercy to 120,000 people that I created???
Get over it. You know me!"

Jonah has really been encouraging me for several reasons over the past couple of weeks.

First, I love how God can use anyone - even broken, dirty, vessels like Jonah (and me). Jonah had absolute contempt for Nineveh - and basically wanted God to wipe them out - cause they 'deserved it.' And God's message, even through this broken vessel, changed people. This is really good news! And it makes me wonder how much more God could use a willing heart.

hmmmm

Second, the picture of God as a compassionate savior is beautiful in the book of Jonah. He saves Jonah from the fish Jonah cries out, and he saves Nineveh from destruction when they cry out to Him. Even just the way he explains himself to Jonah - with the plant. cool.

And C, I love being able to laugh at what an idiot Jonah is...and then realizing that I'm pretty much the same. Stories from the bible like this reveal God's heart to me, and I've experiences his compassion time and time again - and yet so many times I look on people with contempt. Like they're beyond help or something.

So one of my big prayers lately has been that God will show me how to love others - unconditionally, and with a heart full of grace. Most of the time this is not natural for me, and I get frustrated, and things get messy, and then usually something beautiful happens - or sometimes it doesn't. It's been cool to be at churchfreo during the last couple of years, because the crowd that is usually around offers me limitless opportunities to love someone who may not be the easiest person for me to be around...let alone love. Let's just say God brought me to a fertile teaching ground.

A friend asked me recently if it was tiring trying to convert people, and if it was discouraging when 'conversion' didn't happen. We got cut off before I got a chance to answer, but I've really come to believe that Christians really shouldn't be in the converting business (GASP!!). What could it look like if instead of 'scaring' someone into Christianity by telling them that hell is really hot, and if they don't change their ways that's exactly where they're gonna end up...what if we just plain loved them - unconditionally - without judgment.

What if we actually modeled Jesus love for us and them - by loving them - truly - unconditionally - without judgment. And then let God do the converting.

Because it seems to me that that's how God loves us, and that's how Jesus lived - and how he taught us to 'minister'. A while back I wrote about a time in the bible when one of the religious scholars of the day asked Jesus, "Teacher, what is the greatest commandment under the law?"

Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 'This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' "

Love God...love others.

Love God
Love Others

Bottom line - I live in a modern day Nineveh. And God desperately loves these people...ALL of them. So why shouldn't I?

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You...have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity

New Years Inspiration

Rick Hawkinson — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:48:49 EST

Don't you just love really good friends? I mean, those friends who just tell you like it is - even if it's not exactly what you may want to hear. The ones that ask you the hard questions. The ones who it doesn't matter if it's been a week, or 3 years since you've seen them, somehow it feels like it was just yesterday. Luckily, I am blessed to have several of these friends - and I am quite thankful - but not near as much as I should be.

I got an e-mail from one of these friends a couple of weeks ago...scolding me a little bit about how surfacy my writing in the blog had become lately. She basically said that the stuff I was putting in was alright, but she wanted something deeper. And since she's in the midst of winning the battle against breast cancer, she pretty much gets what she wants. Otherwise I would have told her to kiss my surfacy little......ok, not really. Fight like a girl Sonya!

So I have a plan - sort of. I figured that over the next few blog posts, maybe I could reflect back on my first full year in Australia. What I've learned, how it's changed me, what God is teaching me etc, etc. Some of the bigger topics will be -

The speed of evangelism is S-L-O-W.

Loving people is really hard, but incredibly beautiful.

I don't have anywher near the amount of patience I need.

My selfishness sometimes can be shocking.

My desire for excellence sometimes outweighs my desire for God.

I'll still be writing some 'surfacy' stuff as well about what's going on, but I do promise to dig a little deeper - so check back in.

Hot Christmas

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 08:54:57 EST

So I've had a few questions about what it's like having Christmas in mid-summer when it's 100 degrees outside. Well, it's strange - not bad strange...just different strange. On Christmas day, I woke up - put my board shorts and flip flops on, and walked over to the neighbors for a Chrissy (they shorten everything) morning breakfast barbecue. We had bangers (sausages), bacon, eggs, fruit, croissants, fried rice, and chocolate...mmmmmm chocolate.

I then headed down to the church where Barry (I've written about Barry in an earlier post), a guy from the community, had organized a local orphanage's annual Christmas lunch for volunteers, friends, etc. I spent most of the day lounging around, eating, chatting with people from the orphanage, watching 'It's a Wonderful Life', napping, eating...did I say that already?

It wasn't as hot this year as usual (global warming), and the wind was blowing fairly hard, so I didn't make the long, 200 yard trek to the beach, but I did sit lazily outside in the sun and watch the ocean. Lunch was awesome, and we even had a few people show up looking for an open restaurant - and since the church building is an old restaurant, and there were a bunch of people sitting around eating, it was an honest mistake. Several even stuck around and ate - when they realized we were really the only thing open, and they got over the fact that we wouldn't let them pay.

Somewhere during the afternoon I took a nice nap (we have comfy couches) - and then we did a short service w/communion in the evening. It was a really good day.

One cool story from the day involved one of the guys who was there with the crew from the orphanage (most of whom were not church going people) who hung around and came and sat in one of the adjacent rooms where we were doing the service and listened to Chuck give his Christmas message about who Jesus was, and why he came, and what that means to us, etc. After we were finished and all hanging around eating some more and drinking coffee, Jimmie Lynn (the pastors wife) went up to him and asked if she could get him anything, he said what he really wanted was for that guy who did the talk to keep on talking. Seems the only interaction he'd ever had with church involved lots of condemnation, and as he put it, 'somebody telling you your way was wrong and their way was right'. After hearing about God's love for us - sending his son, and a bit about grace - he said, 'that's the way it (church) should be.'

Yep.

So, if you're reading this from the northern hemisphere, know that I missed you guys like crazy this Christmas, but it was a really good day.

Christmas Card...sort of

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 07:54:22 EST

This is as close as I'll ever get to sending out a Christmas card. Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas - and let you know that thing are really good down under, and God is doing some awesome stuff at churchfreo. So keep praying.

Miss you guys...well most of you anyway ;)

Thanksgiving down under...and bowling

Rick Hawkinson — Fri, 5 Dec 2008 09:16:39 EST

I sincerely want to thank those of you who sent me e-mails wishing me a happy Thanksgiving & expressing your concern that I'd be missing out on the turkey etc. Well, let me ease your minds and assure you that I faired quite well. This year, churchfreo had our 1st annual Thanksgiving dinner - with an amazing turnout. A couple weeks before hand, we handed out good ol' thanksgiving recipes (green bean casserole, sweet potatoe casserole, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, corn soufflé and more) to the Aussies that were coming - along with key ingredients you can't get here like French fried onions (for the green bean casserole), and Karo syrup (for the pecan pies).

They don't really sell a lot of whole Turkeys over here, so we had to ship ours in - at $5 a pound. So our 20 pound turkey cost a hundred bucks. OUCH!! But it sure was good.

We also had sweet tea, biscuits (not to be confused with cookies), and I introduced all to my favorite Thanksgiving snack of candy corn (which we also had to order) and peanuts...(Thanks Jenny Reeves)..and hooked 7 or 8 right off the bat.

The night was awesome. We had about 50 for dinner - with about 35 Aussies who had their very first Thanksgiving meal. It was sweet sitting around a table with such a diverse crowd and just enjoying being together. I love the sacredness of meal time.

Everyone did superbly on their recipes (except for Ben who put 4 cups (instead of 1/4 a cup) of bourbon in his sweet potato casserole. Several of us hid the dish...and brought it out later. From now on they'll be known as 'happy potatoes!') and I made sure modeled for the newbies the great American tradition of eating WAY to much food - and then walking around moaning how full I was.

And in other, very important news - my Wolfpack finished our regular season with a big (huge) win over Miami. Our 6th win...which makes us bowl eligible. Wohoo! The Pack finished the season strong with 4 big wins - to give us the second best record in the ACC (Along with about 6 other teams). And our red shirt freshmen quarterback, Russell Wilson, has not thrown an interception in his last 226 pass attempts - which by the way happens to be the most passes without an interception in the nation. And he has 16 touchdown passes for the year...the most in the ACC. Not to shabby for a freshmen.

Oh yea...he was also just named first team All ACC quarterback - the first freshman since 1972 to grab that honor. I told you guys he was going to be good (refer to earlier post).

The picture below is from the Miami game and shows our senior running back Andre Brown playing to extend his season...one more game.

Yes, those are eight guys trying to bring him down. Now we just wait to see what bowl we're going to. It will probably be the salad bowl or something, but at least our season ain't quite through.

Sorry...just can't help it (41-10)

Rick Hawkinson — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:18:26 EST

I tried to refrain from the smacktalk...but I just can't.

NC State STOMPS #22 UNC behind play of QB Wilson (41-10)

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Jamelle Eugene jogged in for a rout-punctuating touchdown to the delight of thousands of red-clad North Carolina State fans crowded into a few sections of Kenan Stadium. Most of North Carolina's crowd had long since departed their home stadium to skip the humbling final minutes.

It was as satisfying a scene as the Wolfpack could have hoped for against their biggest rival.

Russell Wilson threw for two touchdowns and had a key run in the third quarter to set up another score, and N.C. State beat the 22nd-ranked Tar Heels 41-10 on Saturday, earning the program's season sweep of the state's four other major college teams.

Ahhhh...now I feel much better.

Kingdom of Heaven...and grits

Rick Hawkinson — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:03:51 EST

For the past several weeks, churchfreo has been looking into the 'Kingdom of Heaven.' You know, the phrase Jesus uses lots in really confusing ways - comparing it to stuff like yeast and mustard seeds - and saying things like it's 'here' or 'at hand.' When Chuck (our pastor guy teacher dude person) mentioned that he'd like to do a series on the kingdom of heaven - basically focusing on it being here and now, I was pretty stoked. For the year or so before I left the states, We'd been right in the middle of really working through this idea - and how it applies to our lives, here and now, in the youth group where I was leading music. I was commenting to Chuck (evidently a bit enthusiastically) about how as I read and studied what Jesus had to say about the kingdom of heaven - my thoughts on Christianity, Jesus, even the gospel itself were pretty much turned upside down. I truly felt, as God worked on me through this time, that I was starting to somewhat understand what it meant to be a follower of Christ.

So while I'm all hyped up telling him about this, he (slyly) says,"Since this has has such an impact on you, do you wanna teach one week on it."

"Absolutely," I said. (probably not really thinking it through) .

"Great," he said, "You're on for next week."

"Um...what? Seriously? Hang on a second - when I said teach...I didn't actually mean 'teach-teach'!"

But the teaching wheels were set in motion, and so last week, I did my very first teaching 'talk'.

Now, I've never really had any trouble speaking in front of groups...but teaching - that's a whole different ballgame. It was a bit nerve wracking, but by the grace of God I got through it.

I won't bore you with all the details, but basically I talked about how all my life God had seemed very real to me. For some reason, the ludicracy (is that a word?) of God sending his Son to earth to 'right' the relationship with his people - made sense.

What didn't make sense was the Christian formula that everyone around me seemed to be buying. You know the formula:

1) Ask Jesus into your heart (whatever that means)
2) Go to church every Sunday
3) Don't do to many bad things while you're alive - and always ask forgiveness when you do.
4) Die and go to heaven.

This just didn't make sense to me - and I basically spent my late teens and most of my 20's trying to figure out how my life in Christ was supposed to fit into this formula.

As we started looking into the 'kingdom of heaven' a few years ago, things started to click - and so this blog post will stay relatively short, I'll (badly) paraphrase:

God sent his son here to die for us - yes - for without this, there can be no relationship with the Father...but he also came to show us how to live - NOW. He spent the 3 years of his ministry hanging with the 'lowest of the low' and telling us crazy things - like, 'the last shall be first,' and 'turn the other cheek,' and 'walk and extra mile,' and 'give your shirt - AND your coat,' and 'be like these children,' - (yes I'm being a bit vague...cause I want you to go read!) - and 'blessed are the meek..and the peacemakers,' and the two most important things we could do would be to love God - and love others as we love ourselves. He didn't say these things to give us a bunch more rules to follow - he was showing us how we were created to live. He came to give us 'abundant life' here and now.

So then the big question is - what does this life look like? Well, I'd venture to say that a successful life in Christ is a whole lot different looking than a 'successful life' in Western Civilization. Here in lies the journey. Go read what Jesus has to say about this 'abundant life' (It's in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John ;) )

On a lighter note (or more important..however you want to look at it) - I have been faithfully spreading the good news of grits to the peoples of Western Australia. And I am happy to report that I've had no less than 15 converts. Shrimp and grits has been a favorite, closely followed by grits and eggs. People seem to be genuinely surprised how much they like them and most of the time the first words out of their mouths are, "Wow, these are really good!"

Why yes - yes they are...y'all.

Hello Love

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:23:57 EST

Just picked up Chris Tomlin's new CD, 'Hello Love.'

Now, this may sound a little weird for someone who has led worship singing for the past several years, but this is the first CT CD that I've ever purchased. I guess I've just never really been 'grabbed' by his stuff. Sure, he's written some great songs, and we do sing several of them here at churchfreo, but his music hasn't really been something I would choose to listen to in my free time.

Well, last week, I heard 'Hello Love' had been released, so I went online and had a listen - hoping to snag a track or two we might be able to sing at churchfreo. Asfter listening to a sample of each track at Zune Marketplace I ended up buying the whole CD, and have pretty much worn it out for the past week.

Now, from some of the reviews I've read, 'Hello Love' is pretty much typical Tomlin - but since I haven't been a big fan, that doesn't mean much to me. And I don't know that I can give you a descriptive critique of the CD...all I can say is that it moved me. Pretty much the whole thing. One song, in particular, had me crying like a baby while doing curls at the gym. (Yep...got some strange looks for that one. Tried to play it off like I was just sweating a lot...from my eyeballs. )

The song is called 'Exalted.'

Exalted, He is exalted.

On high, He is exalted.

For great is the Lord. Let all the nations say.

Exalted, He is exalted.

Blessing and honor, glory and power, unto the Lord be praise.

Sing out the chorus resounding before us.

Holy is his name. His name.

Yahweh. Holy is Your name.

Nothing earth shattering...except this is exactly the way I want to live my life! Remembering constantly that He is at the center of my being. And that He is to be praised. (It also doesn't hurt that the last bridge is sung by a choir, acapella, in 4 part harmony.)

Now I'm not suggeting that you shoul all run right out and buy it, but at least borrow a friends and have a listen.

In other news, cool things are happeing at churchfreo. We've just finished several weeks of looking at the early church in Acts - and wondering what it would look like to live/do 'church' that way. Where Church is something we are, not somewhere we go. And God is at the center of our lives, not just at the top of a priority list. And as followers of Jesus, we're called to truly love those we come in contact with. Not just tolerate...love. Hmmm....

In the next few weeks, well be taking a look at the 'Kingdom of Heaven'. Jesus seemed to talk about it being 'at hand' a lot. And he compared it to weird things like yeast, and sons, and mustard seeds, and hidden treasure. And how it belonged to the poor in spirit, and the persecuted. And whoever was least would be great there. Most of the time when Jesus talked about the kingdom of heaven, he was using present tense...not future. Could that mean the kingdome is here...now??? Man, what could that look like??

Should be fun.

Oh, and summer is definitely coming! Have I mentioned how clear and beautiful the water is here??

And the sunsets.

It's about to get busy

Rick Hawkinson — Sun, 2 Nov 2008 17:29:38 EST

As it gets warmer, the dive season is really starting to crank up. People know the heat is coming, so they are making plans to spend as much time in the water as possible. And obviously, when you are in the water, you need a good mask, snorkel, fins, etc. That's where the fine folks at Dolphin Dive Fremantle come in. And no, we don't dive with dolphins - (unless we're really lucky) - that's just our name.

A couple of entries ago, I posted some pix of me working on our dive shop's boat, The Sea Lion - and I promised I'd post some pictures of the finished product. So here they are

A 'being worked on' picture:

And just before she went back in the water:

Here are a few shots of the Sea Lion being launched - with really cool big machines. The mechanical engineer in me was almost giddy. (Did I just use the term giddy?!?!?!) Oh, and that's Mark, the owner of the company and the skipper, doing a little dance in front of the boat. I'm still not exactly sure what is wrong with him...but it's no little thing. ;)

Here's Mark and his little brother Craig checking out their handiwork in their flashy, orange jumpsuits. I think the conversation was going something like, "Mate, I sure hope those freaking straps hold!"

So, whether we're ready or not, the dive season is getting ready to go into overdrive...or overdive if you like. It's a rough life.

Summer days commin'...and mosques.

Rick Hawkinson — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:25:29 EST

So, it's finally getting warm here! Spring has been cold, and rainy, but I believe summer is starting to show itself. Today is the first day I've worn shorts to work and haven't frozen my, um...well, that I haven't been cold. For those of you north of the equator that are a bit confused at the moment, remember that I live in the opposite hemisphere as you - hence the seasons are opposite. This has taken some getting used to (picture sunny, 110 degree Christmases and rainy, 40 degree July 4th's), and right now I really don't care what month it is, I just want some sunny, hot days. The old saying, 'Be careful what you ask for...,' definitely applies here, because come mid-January, I'll no doubt be complaining about how freaking hot it is.

churchfreo seems to be hitting a bit of a new season as well. We've been in our current location for about 8 months, and are really starting to be seen as part of the community. People continue to stop by and check us out - foot traffic is definitely picking up as it warms up - and God has seen fit for the community we are in to look on us favorably - which doesn't seem to happen to much with churches around here.

Wednesday night, one of the guys who has started coming, Nick (who works in the restaurant next door), and I were chatting/praying/playing guitar - and after a time of prayer about a tough situation in his life, and one in mine, he made a truly telling comment. He said he was attending churchfreo because they had the best worship leader on the planet.

OK...not really.

He said that he'd been to all sorts of churches throughout his life (and he's had an interesting life), big churches, small churches, skinny ones, fat ones, etc, but that this was his home church because at churchfreo, there were no mosques.

"Mosques?," I replied - caught a bit off guard, my mind frantically shifting gears to keep up with the new direction of the conversation, and how I was going to address this comment.

"Yea, you know," he said, putting his open had up to his face, "mosques."

(pause...cricket...cricket)

"Oh...maaaasks." I replied, quite relieved I wasn't going to have to tap into my limited knowledge of Islam, and blown away yet again by how much we all value genuineness.

And if we all value it so much...why do we all wear so many 'mosques'? hmmm..

I've been pondering this for the past couple of days, and I think I may be on to something (with a little help from Donald Miller).

Ninjas are better than pirates...

Rick Hawkinson — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 15:18:25 EST

....and evidently so is the Wolfpack. Knocking off the #15 ECU Pirates doesn't quench the heartache of losing to two (who will remain unnamed) SC teams, but it does dull it a bit.

I'm not going to base a whole lot on one win, but I have a sneaking suspicion that our new coach and this little freshman quarterback are just getting started. Check out the game recap below.

WOLFPACK STUNS #15 ECU 30-24 IN OVERTIME

A pressbox-overturned replay gave NC State a game-tying touchdown with 72 seconds remaining in regulation and a senior Andre Brown scored on a 10-yard run in overtime to give the Wolfpack a 30-24 victory over No. 15 East Carolina.

On East Carolina’s third play in overtime, NC State defensive end Shea McKeen sacked East Carolina quarterback Patrick Pinkney and stripped the ball out of his hands. Teammate Willie Young recovered the fumble, giving the ball to the Wolfpack for its chance to score.
Brown set up his score with a 16-yard high-hurdling run, and followed with a 10-yard run for the winning touchdown in front of a sell-out crowd of 57,583 at Carter-Finley Stadium.

“When the defense goes out there and play like they played, getting that turnover in overtime and making those two stands inside the 5, I didn’t want to rely on the kicker, to be honest with you,” Brown said. “I wanted to go out there, put that boy in the end zone and get out of here.”

Freshman quarterback Russell Wilson threw three touchdown passes for the Wolfpack (2-2 overall) and the defense held ECU to just three points on a pair of fourth-quarter goal-line stands.

“For the first time since I have been here, we finally played 60 minutes of tough, hard-nosed football,” said Wolfpack second-year coach Tom O’Brien. “It paid off in the end.”

Wilson moved the offense all afternoon, out-gaining the Pirates 384-383. He received help from dual-threat running attack of Brown and junior Jamelle Eugene, who made his 2008 debut after missing the first three games because of an ankle injury. Brown rushed for 73 yards on 12 carries, Eugene had 25 on nine carries and Wilson had 26 on 12 carries.

“I think one I am learning about Russell is that he plays a lot better sometimes than he looks in practice,” O’Brien said. “There are things we have to learn about him. Certainly today, he made plays and extended plays with his feet.”

The Wolfpack’s defense again played well, even though it lost its top performer, sophomore linebacker Nate Irving, to a lower-leg injury in the first half. He attempted to come back in the second half, but played only a few downs before the medical staff held him out for the rest of the game.

“The thing I like about us right now is that we are playing hard,” O’Brien said. “We are learning how to do that. Right now, with all the injuries we have had, that’s the only way we can win football games.”

Sore muscles and dirty fingernails...

Rick Hawkinson — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:09:20 EST

Just a quick post to let you all know that it's not all fun and games working for a dive company. As some of you may realize, it is wintertime here (the whole opposite hemisphere thing), so this week our boat - The Sea Lion - was taken out of the water for its yearly cleaning/maintenance etc. So I spent some fun, fun time this week scrubbing, sanding, painting, scouring, grinding, clearing, bailing, and all sorts of other awesome, refreshing jobs. Here are some pix:

Here's me holding up the boat.....WITH MY ARM!!! After I've just finished scraping and scrubbing the entire hull (of the 75ft boat) with a freaking brillo pad:

And a close up of the nasty, dirty face - that no one told me about - and which I didn't figure out I had until I got home and looked in the mirror!

Day two with my fresh orange jumpsuit - in the bowels of the beast removing old, nasty, scummy, mucky, year old seawater mixed with diesel fuel. Made for a nice high though.

Can't remember what I was delving below to do here. Must have been something exciting.

And my partner in crime, Craigy, working on removing the GenSet

All in all it was a pretty grueling, but fun few days...and next week I get to do more of the same. I'll post some pix of the finished product as well.

Everyday people

Rick Hawkinson — Wed, 3 Sep 2008 16:45:49 EST

Sorry it's been a while y'all. Mary Beth's scolding (see the comments to the last post) has spurned me on. Thanks MB

God continues to bless us as chruchfreo becomes more of a fixture in the community by bringing all kinds of his children in through the doors. I spend most of my evenings during the week at the building working, playing guitar, or reading - and have had some cool conversations with some of those that are passing by and wondering who the idiot is pounding on his guitar is the run down restaurant looking place. Here are some examples of a few:

About a month ago, a slightly (highly) intoxicated guy named Diesel strolled in one Sunday night while we were singing...and decided he wanted to sing along. Then decided he wanted to help lead. So there I was, singing a duet of Jeremiah Jones' 'Rain' with happy Diesel. Sort of surreal. He hung around for a bit more, and even offered to sing a 'song for the children' - as he picked up my Taylor guitar...(it's God's guitar...it's God's guitar). As he was walking out a few minutes later, chuck called out that we would be praying for him. His response was, "I pray for all of YOU'S! I pray that your faith has fruit!" And he walked out. OK...wow.

Several weeks ago, a French couple stopped by one evening while I was reading and asked about the place. Turned out they were students, but also did wood fired pizzas on the side and wondered if they could come make pizzas for us one sunday night to get their name out there. Well, not only did they come make pizzas, but they sat through two Sunday evenings with us, heard the gospel presented...twice, and took a bible to read for the first time. Wi wi, I say.

Mon - Wed of this week the church building was used for a seminar for my work. One of the SCUBA companies came and spent 3 days showing us how to rebuild/service Mares regulators - and they needed a building - so we let them use ours for really cheap. During the first day of the seminar, a guy (Morty) who was passing by and saw our little 'churchfreo' sign in the window came curiously peering into other windows, and when he found where we all were he yelled through the window, "IS THIS A CHURCH?!?!" I quickly got up and went outside to talk to him, and explained that is was in fact a church. His very serious reply, "Well where's the bloody cross mate?!?!" After somehow containing my urge to laugh out loud about the 'bloody' cross remark - I explained that we weren't really about advertising to be a church, we were really trying to be the body of Christ. He kinda liked that and said he may come back and check it out.

On Wed night, Chuck and I had just finished praying in our front room. We had the doors open to the street and two little older ladies were walking by and one said to the other, "You know...that church I was talking about, that's what this place is." The other replied "Ohhhh" with a disturbed look on her face. I yelled HELLO out the door and the first lady responded like you would to a telemarketer, "NO THANKS!" and hurriedly walked on. As Chuck saw them pass by the window he told the story of meeting the first lady just when we had started working on the place. She had curiously asked what we the place was going to be and when we were opening (thinking we'd be a restaurant) - and Chuck told her that a church was going to be meeting there for a while. Her disgruntled reply:
"A church?! Aw Christ!!"

Um...Yep.

I love it.

Yes I'm ready...

Rick Hawkinson — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:33:09 EST

FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!

And even though my beloved Wolfpack is picked last in our division...be ready for a shocker. (That goes for you two teams from South Carolina we play early,)

I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy...back.

Rick Hawkinson — Fri, 22 May 2009 08:49:56 EST

God has really been working on me for the past couple of months - on the concept of joy, and what mine was rooted in, etc. It started several weeks before I went back to the US - finding myself in a bit of a funk. I was getting really burned out with all I had going on, and it seemed that no matter how much i did, i kept spiraling down. I think the best way to put it may be that I always seem to be the 'Martha' worried about the dinner being just right, and making sure the house is clean, and being pissed off because Mary is in sitting with Jesus...doing nothing!!! I was really getting caught up in 'doing things well' for God, and was totally missing out on the incredible things He was doing right around me, and totally missing him.

My trip to the US gave me a unique opportunity. I had a full month where I really didn't have any responsibilities - no job, no basketball team, no tutoring, no trying to get music ready, no getting stuff together for sunday nights, no leading worship. All I pretty much had to do was to be...and to rest in Him. (and to eat mexican food and drink sweet tea) During this time, God was gracious enough to grab me and gradually pull me up (kinda like superman...or that guy from Heroes) so I could get a good look at the '10,000 ft. view'. Now, I've always prided myself with being a 'big picture' kind of guy. Mr Barbee (my high school math teacher) drilled it into our heads to always be looking at the 'big picture.' "To be a good problem solver, you always have to be looking at the 'big picture!'" OK - so I had lost a bit of perspective.

Thank God that he helped me gain some back - through awesome time with my fam, some conversations with my peeps, seeing some of the incredible things he is doing in Greenville, and through some down and dirty time with him.
What I found out is that my joy is in him, in my relationship with him. My joy is in him because I know that he loves me so much:
"And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demon's can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39)

Let me just tell you how much more peaceful and fun my life is when the overlying factor is my joy in God. I'm more patient. I love more. I smile more. Things don't rattle me (as much). God and I talk a LOT more. I can actually feel his peace. And I'm finding this joy in the strangest places.

Joy seems to be a big deal in the bible. Nehemiah talks of the joy of the lord being strength. David can't quit singing and shouting for joy to his lord. Proverbs is full of examples of what brings joy. It's all over Isaiah. Jesus talks of his joy being in us and our joy being complete when we obey. Paul constantly talks about our 'joy in christ' and even tells us to be joyful in our sufferings!

I love how crowder puts it in one of my favorites of his:

And He set me on fire.
I am burning alive.
With his breath in my lungs.
I'm coming undone.

I cannot hold it in
And remain composed.
Love's taken over me
So I propose the letting myself go.
I am letting myself go.

You are my joy, you are my joy
YOU ARE MY JOY!!

So here's to letting myself go...more time sitting at Jesus' feet.

I'll finish this post with a couple of pix of what I consider pure joy. First, my niece Kirstin showing me how fast she can run (a split second later she crashed into my arms and we laughed like maniacs):

And second, my little brother Jamie, who has, by far, the coolest laugh I know...and who loves to be tickled - ok not really - but I love to tickle him...basically to hear the laugh.

Back on the rock...

Rick Hawkinson — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:02:42 EST

Just after finding out I'd missed my connection in Sydney, and would be spending the night(after I'd already had to overnight in San Francisco - I LOVE QUANTAS!!) I pulled out my mobile phone to called Chuck and let him know I needed to postpone my airport pick-up until the following afternoon. His enthusiastic first words were an awesome welcome and turned my frown upside down:

"You back on The Rock?!?!?"

Yes, after 31 days, countless hours catching up and hanging with fam and friends, meeting my new niece Kaylan, and nephew Ezra, and the miracle that is Cohen McGowan, 15 Mexican meals, 22 dives in Venezuela, a brutal 5K that I lost by 12 seconds to Jules, a Greenville Drive baseball game with a evening backdrop that only God could have painted, softball games, a 4th of July cookout, Childress work days, morning coffee with my mom and sis on the front porch, several thousand pictures with my new camera, and I'm estimating between 75 and 100 glasses of sweet tea...

...I am back on The Rock. And really, really stoked to be back.

It was interesting being at home for a month, but being kind of an outsider. It really gave me a cool perspective being back in my old life...but not really back in my old life...does that make sense? Without the 'trees' of everyday jobs, bills, dissapointments, schedules, etc. I seemed to be able to get a much better look at the 'forest'. And I can't even describe to you the amount of joy I felt. Not joy as in I was happy I didn't have to go to work, but JOY as in community with my creator.

More on this in the next couple of days - don't want to get too heavy my first day back.

I've put some pix of the trip in the photo gallery...and I'll leave with with a shot of a true, live miracle. Go Cohen...go Cohen! Thank you Jesus.

Home again...

Rick Hawkinson — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:11:22 EST

After 3 flights, 24 hours on planes, 9 airplane/airport meals, 6 in flight movies, 3 hours of sleep, and a close encounter with Jessica Biel on my flight from LA to Charlotte, I finally made it back to the blessed south east.

My new niece Kaylan met me at the airport, and I got to hang with my new nephew Ezra yesterday.

I've already hit chick-fil-a twice, and drank about 2 gallons of sweet tea.

Poker with my BMW crew and lot's of sloppy, southern BBQ tonight.

Yummy.

Home again...

Rick Hawkinson — Mon, 7 Jul 2008 11:31:58 EST

My new niece Kaylan met me at the airport, and I got to hang with my new nephew Ezra yesterday.

I've already hit chick-fil-a twice, and drank about 2 gallons of sweet tea.

Poker with my BMW crew and lot's of sloppy, southern BBQ tonight.

Yummy.

Answered prayer...and late night flights

Rick Hawkinson — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:30:25 EST

So, we found a house. 3 bedroom, living room, kitchen, laundry room - $400 a week. Yes that's right, I said $400 A WEEK. The $$$ is a bit depressing, but the house is nice, in a great location (1/2 mile from work, 1/2 mile from church and beach), and the owners seem to be really cool. Still....$400 a week...ouch. But I am thankful - truly. We were really under the gun to find a place - before I left for the US, and before our lease was up on our current place. There's such a demand for rental housing here that it seemed there were 10-20 people ready to take any house that came available.

The deal is that the rental agency schedules a showing of an available property, and you show up, take a look, and put in an application (along with the other 15 people that probably turned up) and then the owner looks at the apps and makes their decision. Evidently three single guys aren't the optimum group to rent a house to - go figure.

It just so happened on this house that the owners live right behind - and the rental agent had us go take a look on our own. The husband owner (Darren) was working on finishing a fence when we pulled up - and it turned out he and his wire are regulars at our dive shop. And his wife teaches at the high school when I volunteer tutor - so I know her from there as well. Pretty big 'coincidence' eh?

Anyway, long story short - we got the place...just in time for me to move my stuff in before my trip, and literally just in time for my two roommates to get us moved out of our current place before the lease is up on Sunday.

I love how God tends to work 'just in time'.

And tonight, I'm on a 12:05 am flight out of Perth....to Charlotte. Wohoooo! Can't wait to see everyone.

Really.

No, seriously.

Over the next few weeks while I'm at home, I plan to sit down and debrief my last year in Australia. Hopefully I'll have some good insight to post...we'll see.

The latest niece is here!

Rick Hawkinson — Sun, 8 Jun 2008 11:59:50 EST

Kaylan Jordin Watt is here - 8 lb 2 oz - 20inches long. My sister gave birth to her 5th (yes, I said 5th) yesterday - and I wanted to introduce her to you guys. I'll get to introduce myself to her next Thursday when I fly HOME!!

Yes, her name is Kaylan Jordin - spelled just like that - my sister is sort of a doofus. Nickname will be easy for this one though - KJ. See you next week sweetie.

Back From Bali and off to the USA...soon.

Rick Hawkinson — Fri, 5 Sep 2008 11:31:12 EST

The trip to Bali went really well. Good diving, great food, and incredible people made for a very enjoyable, relaxing week. We spent the first day driving from the southern tip of the island (Kuta) to the northern tip (Menjajin) up down and around a couple dormant volcanos. We stopped at a couple of Buddhist temples (one with lots of monkeys) and several rice plantations. We spend the rest of the week making (diving) our way around the eastern coast - from Tulamben, to Candidas - and back to Kuta, where we spend a couple days bartering in the markets.

The diving was really good - I swam with a couple manta rays, saw my first sea dragon, had a close encounter with a sea snake, chilled out with a big turtle, and had a kung fu battle with an over zealous clown fish (which of course I won) - but I was most impressed with the people of Bali. They were incredible warm, friendly - and always seemed to be smiling. Those of you who know me know I love kids - and I just couldn't seem to stop taking pictures of kids all week. Here are a few:

I'll add some more pix (with some underwater ones) to the gallery tomorrow.

The best news of the day is that it's only 9 days til I'm home and able to talk to most of you in person - rather than this stinking website. Nine days...mexican food, grits, sweet tea, and face time with my favorite (non-Australian) people in the world. Here's my list -so far-of things I have to pack into the 4 weeks I'm home (in no order what-so-ever):

1) Meet and chill with my new niece and nephew for the first time.

2) Golf with Paul - and hopefully Matt, and Dan, and Keever...ok, so lots of golf.

3) Poker with the fellas at Kevin's.

4) Lots of meals at Tijuana's.

5) Xbox NCAA football and hanging with Childress.

6) Smokin' Julie in the Candlelight 5k in Greenville.

7) Playing guitar with Derick - and hopefully jammin' with the WB.

8) Pizza Inn with the Fullers and Fowlers.

9) Softball with Des' WAFUASI team (along with some Des lovin').

10) A week in Bonaire with Duncan, Ess-aye, Debbie, Zane, and whoever else is going.

11) Lots of time hanging with the kids at The Frazee Center.

12) Cloths shopping with Kelly C.

13) Meeting Charlie Spann and Cohen McGowan for the first time.

14) Hanging with Ella and Macy.

15) Spoiling all my nieces and nephews like crazy.

16) Eating lots of mom cooked meals.

17) Lounging in the craziness of the watt/hawkinson household.

18) Serious lake time (had enough of the salt water for a while).

19) Hopefully several parties with the Greenville crew.

20) Bouncing some ideas/experiences off Stu.

21) Dinner with Matt & Mel - and Sabrina at PF Changs.

22) Summer movies.

23) Lots of thanking God for giving me such incredible family and friends.

24) Bunches of dinners with friends that go late into the night.

25) A couple Greenville Drive night games.

26) Soaking up some downtown GVegas.

27) Coffee with Diava.

28) Some sort of craziness with Beckler.

29) Xbox 360 with the fellas at Z's.

Now - this is definitely not a complete or exhaustive list, but if you know something I should be doing while I'm home, and it's not on the list - then please comment and remind me!!

Can't wait to see everyone.

It's NOT a toooma!

Rick Hawkinson — Sat, 31 May 2008 22:25:38 EST

OK, so it was a tumor, but it is no more - it's now some ground up mush on its way to some incinerator somewhere.

The surgery went well - WOHOO!!! Last report I heard was that the doctors got all of it, and Mark is doing well in recovery.

Thank you Lord, and thanks guys for your prayers.

Now - I'm off to catch a flight to Bali for a week - checking out some dive resorts for work.

It's a tough job ;)

So if you guys would, say a prayer for safe travel, and that I can maybe show a little Jesus to the people I'll be traveling with. (I bought a little Jesus statue, and I plan to show it often - you know me, always thinking outside the box.) And that hopefully I won't end up getting 'Bali Belly' - which, from what they're telling me sounds a lot like Montazuma's revenge - which I've had before, and um, well - you really don't want to know. So this week, I'm REALLY not going to drink the water.

Talk to y'all in about a week.

And oh - by the way, 3 more weeks and I'm coming home for a month.

I'm a little excited.

Need some prayer...

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 20 May 2008 22:05:50 EST

A friend of mine from here in Australia is having surgery on Monday to remove a brain tumor.

My age, wife, 4 kids (the youngest just a few months old)...and a brain tumor. What the heck?!?! It is benign - thankfully, and from what I understand, the doctors are pretty confident about the success of the surgery.

Please pray for Mark, Natalie, and the kids - that God will give them a peace only He can provide, and that He will see fit to totally heal Mark.

Thanks y'all.

Friends

Rick Hawkinson — Sun, 11 May 2008 12:47:02 EST

Friends, amigos, amis, freunde, homies, mates, endsfrae - whatever language you use...they're pretty freaking cool.

One of the biggest things my time away from the US has shown me is how much I take my friends for granted. I think I have to be one of the most blessed people on this planet when it comes to the people God has put in my life.

Take for example "my" last post. That took a collaboration from no less than three of the my afore mentioned friends. One supplied the picture, another photo shopped the heck out of it, and the third hacked into my account and posted it - along with a fairly amusing write up. (Or maybe it really is me.) And then, as if that wasn't outstanding enough, there was the multitude of amazingly witty comments from a lot of you (and a couple stupid ones from Stuart). Now if that's not love, I don't know what is! I mean, I could actually feel the love vibes all the way in Australia - or maybe what I was feeling was gas from all the kangaroo kebabs I had for my birthday dinner.

So to those of you out there who are brave enough to actually admit that you're my friend - y'all are the coolest, and I love you guys...well most of you anyway. I can't imagine doing this life thing without you.

In other news - I have finally completed my PADI Divemaster certification - wohoo! Now I can actually get paid to take people diving. So from now on, you may refer to me as:

Master Rick

or Rickmaster will be acceptable

or Batman.

37 and counting...

Rick Hawkinson — Fri, 2 May 2008 03:14:57 EST

Happy birthday to me - happy birthday to me!

Thanks to all who have already called and/or e-mailed. Shame on those of you whom I haven't heard from (you've still got 11 hours). Unless you're in the hospital or something - then you're forgiven. However, most hospitals do have wireless internet now - so there's really no excuse. Unless you're unconscious - then I guess it's ok.

Thirty seven: 37 years. Three point seven decades. 13514 days. Almost 20 million minutes.

Half a lifetime...I feel like I'm just getting started.

I love this gig!

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY, BUT A NEW BEGINNING

Rick Hawkinson — Fri, 5 Sep 2008 14:15:58 EST

Well today is my birthday, and I decided to do something I’ve wanted to do since 1986 when I saw the movie that would define my inner thoughts and desires. That movie was Crocodile Dundee. I went to the outback and got in touch with my inner self, and the crocodile inside me. You just thought I was a Killer Hawk, but in fact I’ve always wanted to be a Killer Croc. I even bought a huge knife so I could say “That’s not a knife…this is a knife”. I tried shaving with it, but that didn’t work out so well.

I look forward to all the encouraging comments from everyone as I begin the rest of my life as the man I always wanted to be. Just call me Crocodile Rickee. It’s never too late to live your dream!

Nearly expired passports...and love.

Rick Hawkinson — Thu, 1 May 2008 23:05:29 EST

On Monday, my boss called me and asked if I'd be willing to go to Bali for a week - at the end of May - with one of the diving holiday planning companies we use to check out the diving, the accommodations, the ease of travel... basically to spend a week diving in a really cool place.

Hmmmm....let me think.

For those of you who've never heard of Bali (like me, before I moved here), here a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bali

So, one of the requirements for the trip was that I had to have a valid passport with at least 6 months left until it expired.

"No worries. Let me just check to make sure...DOH!"

Yep, to my dismay, I discovered that my passport expires May 28th. (Thank God I had to check it for this trip - or I'd have had a hard time getting home in June!) So, on Wednesday, I started the process of trying to renew my passport in a foreign country - which I figured was going to be a huge hassle, and take forever, and cause me to miss out on the Bali trip...yes, I had a really nice pity party.

However, by Wednesday - lunch - I was dropping a package in the mail. A package which contained all the necessary forms (that I had downloaded and filled out) , a couple of new passport photos, a cashiers check for $87.50, a postage paid return envelope, and my old passport. I had a lot of help from this really nice Aussie lady at the US Consulate who assured me that I'll have my new passport in two weeks or less.

But as I walked away from the post office, the realization hit me that I was 'passport-less', and to be honest, it was a bit of a disconcerting feeling. After the initial uncomfortable visions passed (of some world disaster happening - and me trying to 'James Bond' it back to the US without my trusty passport), I started thinking about the places I've been able to go, things I've been able to see, and the different people I've been able to meet due to the freedom of travel brought about by my passport. It's been a really cool ride, and I'll be a bit anxious until I receive my shiny new one in the mail.

One of the most asked questions of me from people here, of all nationalities, is why most Americans aren't more 'world conscious'. The image most of those I talk with have of Americans is that we so wrapped up in our own little lives that we hardly ever get out of our own cities, let alone travel to another country.

And sadly, most I talk to view the church the same way. We Christians all huddle together in our buildings with no real idea of anyone or anything outside the 'circle'. The times we do venture out it seems, is only to judge and condemn.

Ouch

So, any of you out there who may be reading, my challenge is to all of us - especially my peeps in Christ. Let's get out of our little comfort zones and out into 'it'. Actually go meet your neighbor. Volunteer down at the community center. Give of yourself. Love. Get out into this big, awesome world that our God created for us - and soak it up. And love people - recklessly. It's messy, and time consuming, and frustrating...and beautiful - and it's what we were created to do.

Jesus loved us recklessly. When he walked this planet, he always seemed to be in places he shouldn't be, loving people he wasn't supposed to love. Messy, frustrating, beautiful.

I'm a Discovery Channel junkie. Dirty Jobs, Mythbusters, Deadliest Catch, Blue Planet - I love these shows. And thanks to the SlingBox I purchased before I left the US, I've been able to keep up with some of them. They've just put out a brilliant promo commercial for their network, and I can't get the song out of my head. Not only because it's such a catchy tune, but because it so matches up with what's been banging around in my head (some of which I wrote above) lately. I embedded the video in a post just below this one - so scroll down and enjoy.

Boom De Ah Da!

Rick Hawkinson — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:20:31 EST

I love the mountains
I love the clear blue skies
I love big bridges
I love when great whites fly
I love the whole world
And all its sights and sounds

Boom-dee-ah-da, boom-dee-ah-da
Boom-dee-ah-da, boom-dee-ah-da

I love the oceans
I love real dirty things
I love to go fast
I love Egyptian kings
I love the whole world
And all its craziness

Boom-dee-ah-da, boom-dee-ah-da
Boom-dee-ah-da, boom-dee-ah-da

I love tornadoes
I love arachnids
I love hot magma
I love the giant squids
I love the whole world
It's such a brilliant place

Boom-dee-ah-da, boom-dee-ah-da
Boom-dee-ah-da, boom-dee-ah-da
Boom-dee-ah-da, boom-dee-ah-da

Still looking...

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:11:55 EST

No new abode as of yet...although the offer for the place on Sugar Time Lane was enticing - thanks Childress. I haven't been real motivated to do a whole lot of looking since even the cheapest little crappiest places cost more per month than the mortgage on my last house. Ouch. But, we're getting kicked out of our current place in a couple weeks - so I am renewing the search with more enthusiasm and vigor this week. OK, really not much enthusiasm, or vigor, but at least I'm 'talking' about looking - that's the first step.

In other news, things at churchfreo are going really well. We're getting settled into our new place, and have been hitting the auction to furnish it. Last week I got 4 awesome comfy chairs, a cool couch, and an 'antique' set of book shelves - all for $71. I'd post some pics, but my camera decided to crap out, and I'm going to wait til I'm home in June to buy another one (or maybe have one donated...who knows??). Until then, I'll try and borrow one and get some more pics up soon.

I am really digging the location of where we're meeting for church. There is so much foot traffic that people tend to wander in asking who we are, what we're doing etc. This proximity has led to awesome conversations, new friendships, and shocking 180 degree turn-a-rounds. One such turn-a-round is a guy named Barry. During one of the first few days we were open and working on the place, Barry, who lives in the neighborhood, walked up and asked who we were and when the restaurant was opening. After hearing that a church would be meeting there and being invited in for a drink, he very disappointedly walked off proclaiming 'Oh great...a church! You'll never get me in THAT place.'

Well, because of our proximity, Chuck was able to really engaged Barry - and struck up a little friendship. Over the next several weeks, I'd see Barry come in on Sunday nights after our service during dinner and get into what looked like pretty in depth discussions with Chuck. Then a couple weeks ago as we're cleaning up from dinner, Chuck comes in the kitchen with a big smile on his face, shaking his head...wheeling a big stand up freezer - which we really needed, and had been trying to figure out how to score cheaply. Well, about an hour earlier, Chuck and Barry had been talking and Barry asked if there was anything we needed. He went on to explain that he loved the 'good things' we were doing and wanted to help in any way he could. What?!? Pretty much blown away at this point, Chuck told him we were doing ok - but we did need an stove/oven and a stand up freezer.

Barry's reply - "I've got a stand up freezer I'm not using in my garage...want it?"

And he's spent the last couple weeks on a mission to find us a stove.

I don't know about us doing good things - but God seems to be doing some pretty cool things.

SOLD!

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:11:32 EST

Well, I'm again on the hunt for a place to live. The cool house I'm currently is has been sold by the owner, and we've got about a month until we have to be out.

Rent is quite expensive here - I guess living 5 minutes from the beach has a way of doing that. They even advertise by the week - I think because it'd sound ridiculous advertising a crummy little 2 bedroom, 1 bath, tiny kitchen, tiny living room apartment for $1200 a month. $300 a week sounds much more reasonable.

It's like Christmas in, um...March

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:11:08 EST

As I've said before, I really do dig getting packages from home - and last week I received a very exciting one from my mom and sister. I love pulling up to the house after a long day of work, and having a box sitting on the front porch waiting for me. Unexpected surprises really do make my day.

So anyway, last Tuesday I got home after an especially long day at work - and a little cardboard buddy was waiting for me. Now, before I tell you what was in the box, I need for you to realize that there are several of things (and by things, I mean food) that I'm having to do without here in Australia. As I've said before, Americans and Australians have similar tastes, and pretty much eat the same things...but there are a few of my favorites that just haven't made it across the equator.

The box was full of two such items - that totally have brought to truth for me the old cliché "you don't know what you've got til it's gone" - Nature Valley crunchy granola bars...and grits.

The grits were a double surprise because supposedly there was not way that Australian customs would let grits into the country - something about being uncooked corn or something. But the box had been fully inspected by customs, and somehow 50 packets of instant grits made it through.

Now I know what some of you are thinking, "INSTANT GRITS?!?!?! No self respecting southerner eats instant grits!" - and most of the time I'd agree with you However, a true Southerner - after being deprives of grits for 8 months - will jump on any kind of grits he can find...like a tick on a hound dog.

Upon discovering my 'white gold' - I made a mad dash for the kitchen only to discover...I was out of eggs! DOH!! And grocery stores here close at 5. DOUBLE DOH!!! I wanted my first grits in 8 months to be eaten like they should be - with runny yoke eggs. So - no grits for Rick on Tuesday night.

But I did have grits and eggs for dinner Wednesday night, Thursday night, AND Friday night.... and several nights since.

Some pics of my first grits for 8 months.

A nice pretty plate...and then - of course - I mixed everything together like a true southerner should.

It was a beautiful, beautiful experience. My mom and sister are the coolest. (At least until I get my next package!)

EC is here!

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:11:00 EST

The doctors wanted him to wait until Saturday, but Ezra Cole had different plans. I like a kid who knows what he wants, and makes it happen!

He was born on Monday evening, March 24th at 11:48 PM (about 6 weeks early). He weighed a whopping 5lb 1oz, and was 18 inches long. The doctors were pleasantly surprised at how well he was breathing on his own - since I guess usually babies this premature have trouble.

EC will spend the first few days of his life in the NICU, but should be on his way home shortly. Mama and baby are both doing very well, and the whole extended family is praising our God who is really, really good (and cool).

As eldest uncle to Ezra Cole, it's my job, my responsibity...my duty - to make sure the child has an appropriate nick name. It's an important rite of passage. At the moment, I've decided on EC - pronounced with a heavy Puerto Rican accent (eee-see). As in "Eh!! Take it eee-see!" (quote credited to my good friend Johnny Z).

So, EC, welcome to the world. I can't wait to meet you.

Introducing Ezra Cole Hawkinson

Rick Hawkinson — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:06:30 EST

So, this is Ezra - the first son of my brother Paul, and his wife Rebecca. As you can tell by the ultra sound -with his face pressed up against the 'glass' - Ezra is ready to make his entrance into the world. He made this clear a couple of days ago when Rebecca's water broke. Problem is, she's only 32 weeks along - and the doctors really want him to 'bake' for another week. There was only a small rupture in the bag of water, so there is still fluid around Ezra, but since there is an opening, there is risk of infection.

At the moment, the doctors are saying that the risk of complications due to being born prematurely outweighs the risk of infection, so they've got Rebeca in the hospital on bed rest. Next Saturday, the risk of infection becomes to great, and Ezra will have had another week of lung development - so if Rebecca hasn't gone into labor by then, they'll induce.

So - if y'all would, please pray for Ezra and Rebeca (and Paul) - that God would see fit to give them a good week, and a healthy 0th birthday.

Right Living (Part Deux)

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:02:22 EST

So – back to this following Christ thing (continued from last post) As I said before, for most of my life I’ve felt that if I can just get the formula right, then I’ll be doing what a good Christian is supposed to be doing – and my ‘personal relationship with God’ would be good. If I was faithful about getting involved in church stuff, having my quiet time, trying to live right, getting some deep teaching, and giving back to God some of what he had provided for me - then I would have the ‘closeness’ with God that I’d heard others talk about. There was a conversation that I remember having several times in college - most of the time with a girl – that went something like this:
“Hey Jennifer, how have you been?”
“Hey Rick, I’ve been awesome! God has been teaching me so much. I’m so in love with God right now.”
I’d be nodding, and smiling…all the while thinking, “Girl, I have no freaking idea what you’re talking about.”

In love with God? What did that look/feel like? I wanted that. So I’d bear down harder with my formula – and get more frustrated. What basically happened was that I turned the things in my formula, which were good things, into idols – and tried, with my abilities, to do them as best I could.

The killer was that doing things this way did provide some fulfillment. Something good would happen at church, or I’d have a really good conversation with a non-believing friend, or I’d go on an awesome short term mission trip, etc. and these little ‘victories’ spurned me on to banging out my formula with more effort. In the in-between times (which was pretty much most of the time) however, I was feeling like a fake, feeling like I was totally missing something, and having serious doubts that I had any idea who God really was and what a relationship with him looked like.

Well, He saw fit to keep me in that place for a while – and then a couple of years ago, He was gracious enough to hit me up side the head with the problem…ME!

Now those of you who know me know this, but for those that don’t, I’m pretty independent, and I’m totally a planner…quite a dangerous combination for a Christ follower. My strong sense of self led me to work my formula with my power, and my plan. Ya…I know – I never claimed to be very bright.

Basically, instead of turning my life over to Christ, I had just made Him a part of it. What I came to realize (am still realizing) is that my ‘self’ and Christ can’t truly co-exist together (What?!?!?). There are a couple of passages in the bible that have really hit me hard with respect to my ‘self.’ The first is found in 3 of the 4 gospels and is Jesus speaking to his disciples at Caesarea Philippi just after talking about building his church: (Matt 16:24-26 Msg)

Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?

Self sacrifice??? OK, not actually what I had in mind…but I was tracking.

Then Paul has to go an drop this one on me in his letter to the Galatians (2:17-21 The Message) after coming down hard on Peter for pretty much trying to act ‘good’ in front of some religious leaders:

“Have some of you noticed that we are not yet perfect? (No great surprise, right?) And are you ready to make the accusation that since people like me, who go through Christ in order to get things right with God, aren't perfectly virtuous, Christ must therefore be an accessory to sin? The accusation is frivolous. If I was ‘trying to be good,’ I would be rebuilding the same old barn that I tore down. I would be acting as a charlatan.

What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a ‘law man’ so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not ‘mine,’ but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.”

OK – so my ‘self’ totally has to go, because Jesus doesn’t like to share. This idea was starting to make sense to me, but was still really abstract. My question was still – how do I do this? How do I die to myself…daily?

Well, I love how sometimes God makes scripture so real that you can literally grab it, pick it up, and take a bite out of it. He hit me with this morsel a couple of years ago - a passage I’d heard probably 1000 times, but hadn’t ‘gotten it.’ Jesus is answering the a question posed to him by one of the Pharisees, “Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law?” (Matthew 22: 37-40)

“Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

OK, so I was still baffled on how I was supposed to love God with all…well everything, but I knew a little something about loving myself, now all I had to do was love other people like that. Hmmmm…so that’s not going to be easy.

Well, it hasn’t been easy, but it’s been amazing! What I’ve found about really (trying to), truly loving others (more on specifics of this later) is that through these experiences, I’ve walked closer with my God than ever before. It was like this huge epiphany - that I could learn what it meant to love God, by loving others. (You think that’s maybe why he put those two commandments together?!?!)

Think about it – to really love someone else, as you would yourself, you have to totally give up yourself. Your pride, your greed, your prejudices, your impatience, your plans, your time, your life. Why do you think we get so choked up when we witness acts of true self-sacrifice? I believe it’s because we’re created in the image of our God, who sent his Son to die so that He could be with us. Talk about self-sacrifice. And when we’re in the presence of these kinds of acts, our being cries out – because it relates so strongly on a spiritual level.

OK, so, let’s sum this up – because I’ve written way more than I meant to:
As a Christ follower I have to get rid of myself. One way of doing that is to sacrificially love those around me. By doing so, not only do I displace my ‘self’, I’m also learning how to love my God. And hopefully, through this sacrificial love, people actually can see a bit of what Jesus is all about. I LOVE how it all intertwines!!

There’s a simple little song called ‘Empty Me’ from Jeremy Camp’s “Carried Me: The Worship Project” CD that helps me put my strong sense of ‘self’ in perspective.

Holy fire, burn away
My desire for anything
That is not of You, and is of me
I want more of You, and less of me
Empty me, empty me
And fill me with You,
With You

You'd better start living right!

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:02:18 EST

Quick story about an incident that occurred during sound check before the early service at Grace Church several years ago:

If I remember correctly (which is doubtful) early service at Grace in those days was really early – like 8:30 or something, so there was only one girl sitting in the seats as we were running through sound check. She had to have been a visitor who had got the service time wrong, because really, who shows up 30 minutes early…for the early service?!?!
Suddenly, and with a large POP!, one of the canned lights in the 25ft ceiling literally exploded, raining molten hot glass down on the chair directly next to the girl - missing her by mere inches. Without hesitation, Matt Reeves, the worship director at the time, stepped up to the microphone, pointed at the girl, and exclaimed in his higher than normal, heavily southern accented voice:

“YOU’D BETTER START LIVING RIGHT!”

‘Right Living’ , ‘Godly living’, ‘good Christian living’,…I don’t know if you’re like me, but tangible definitions to these phrases have seemed to elude me through my short time on this planet (ok, maybe medium time). Throughout my life, I’ve had well meaning people try and explain how to live ‘right’.

At the ripe old age of 7, my Cub Scout leader had us memorize a little reminder of his version of right living. “We don’t smoke, we don’t chew, and we don’t go with the girls that do!” Sounded simple enough.

My teens consisted of youth leaders who pretty much told us that we were OK as long as we weren’t drinking and having sex…which most of us were anyway (not me mom…really).
College consisted of campus organizations tell me that if I had my 30 minute quiet time each day and stayed ‘right with God’ I was golden.

And into adulthood as a Southern Christian, the unwritten code seems to be that if I’m in church on Sunday I’m set. Then if I want to be ‘super christian’ I add things like tithing (net-not gross), get in a small group, and maybe teach a Sunday school class.
Well, I can honestly say, I’ve done, or attempted to do, all (most) of these things at ones point or another, and although these are good things, that gave me some fulfillment for a time – I’ve always felt that I was missing something.

Look at the way most Christians evangelize – “Repent, ask Jesus into your heart (whatever that means), and then you won’t have to go to hell, and you can spend eternity with Him in Disneyland…I mean heaven. OK, so I sort of get the eternity thing……but what about tomorrow, and the next day? What does it look like to truly live as a follower of Christ?

As I’ve wrestled with this question – pretty ferociously over the last couple of years – I feel like I’m starting to get a glimpse of what it could be like. It’s a very faint glimpse sometimes, but what I’m discovering continues to build on itself to form something that I have started to be able to get my arms around. Does that make any sense?

So, I know you’re on the edge of your seat, just dying to hear the wisdom of Rick – but I wouldn’t want to overload you. I can’t give the question AND the answer in one post – that would break all the rules of a good cliff hanger.

Back in a few days.

Boat Trips and Basketball

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:06:51 EST

Over the past few months I've really grown to love Mondays. Since I'm now working in retail - the owners (for some reason) want us to be open when everyone else is off of work. This, I suppose, is good for business...but bad for Rick's weekends. Well, maybe not so 'bad' - just different. My days off have shifted from Saturday/Sunday to Sunday/Monday, which has taken some getting used to, but has it's advantages. The crappiness of realizing on Friday night that I have to go in to work in the morning is somewhat offset by the surprised joy on Sunday evening when I remember I have Monday off. Yep - that's how simply my brain works.

Two weekends ago I was able to crew an overnight dive trip to Rottnest island - which is about 25 km's (15 miles) off the coast from Fremantle. Friday afternoon I worked at the shop until 6, ran home, threw my gear in the truck, and headed to the boat.

We had a group of about 20 who had chartered the boat for a night dive on Friday night and then 3 dives on Saturday. The night dive was really nice - lots of marine life, and sea caves / swim throughs (which are quite fun in the dark).

After the dive, we headed to the island, moored at the ferry jetty, and took in a little Rotto night life. We slept on the boat Friday night in swag's. Now, the swag is in Australian icon. Since there is so much open country here, people do a lot of camping - and they've ingeniously created a tent/thermorest/sleeping bag - all in one. The swag is made of canvas that surrounds a dense foam mat - and then acts as a tent as well. A bit hard to describe so check out this site:

http://www.wruffit.co.uk/

Waking up to the sunrise on the boat was pretty cool, and we had an awesome breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, jam, and...

The dives on Saturday were really good. The wind was mild, so we were able to hit a few sites that normally are to rough. Here's a pic of the crew helping divers back onto the boat

So all in all, it was a really good trip. And I got to add 4 more cool dives to my logbook.

Also, I've started managing a semi-pro basketball team here in Perth - the Redbacks.

http://www.perth.basketball.net.au/fs_home.asp

David Harris (a guy from our church) has started coaching the team this year, and after he and I attended a Perth Wildcats game together (Perth's pro team - we had court side seats), and he saw my 'enthusiasm', and what a hard time I gave the refs - asked if I'd consider managing the Redbacks.

Well, we're still in salary negotiations (the initial offer was $0,000 - but I stood firm and demanded at leas 4 times that - or a couple more zeros or something...I think I have them right where I want them) but my duties as manager will be mainly to have everything ready for each game - every players uniforms set out, water bottles and towels ready, etc - making sure players have water and towels during the game - and then gathering all the dirty towels, empty water bottles, and...yes...the dirty, soaking, smelly uniforms to send to the laundry. So you see that I couldn't just let this opportunity pass me by.

The team is made of a really good group of guys, and I'm looking forward to having a lot of fun this season. David has already told me that if I get a technical called on me on the bench...that I'm fired. I told him I couldn't make any promises.

Been a while...sorry.

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:06:39 EST

Yes, it's been a little while, and some of you may be disappointed - cause this is going to be really short (except for maybe Childress, who will only read the first two lines anyway...I doubt he even got this far), but I'll list some things that are going one with me, and I promise to write more on each one of them over the next week.

1) Got to crew an over night dive trip to Rottnest island last weekend. Pretty cool - pix are in the gallery.

2) Been thinking a lot lately about what it means to live as a Christ follower. I mean, more than quiet times, and reading a proverb a day, and showing up for a couple hours on Sunday. Maybe I have a few thoughts.

3) I've been asked to be the manager of one of the semi-pro basketball teams here in Perth. The Redbacks. I'm sure this experience will lead to lots of stories.

4) Had our first communion service tonight at our new place. Humbling, and really good.

More to come...

NASCAR at ALL hours

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:06:39 EST

Those of you who know me know that I am a pretty big NASCAR fan. Being a boy, and an engineer (and part redneck) I am drawn to the speed, the technology, and yes...the carnage filled wrecks.

Now those of you who know even a little bit about racing know that the Daytona 500 is the super bowl of stock car racing. Four out of the past 5 years, I've made the trek down to Daytona in February, bunked out with the Stevens fam, sat on the front stretch and soaked in the fumes, the rubber, and the history that is THE Daytona 500.

Well, obviously there's was a bit of a problem this year. It's late February, and I'm 12000 miles from Florida - what's a displaced redneck to do? Well, I did what any good ol' boy would do - went and bunked a friends who has cable, set my alarm for 3:30 AM (yes that's AM in the morning) and was in front of the TV with snacks and beverages (no, I wasn't drinking beer at 4AM - it was diet coke...i saved the beer til 7:30) when the pre race started at 4. And yes, I stayed awake for the whole thing...mostly.

I wasn't disappointed - new teams, new drivers, the car of tomorrow (today), and a great race - with an improbable winner - who took the lead coming off turn 2 of the last lap. Pretty cool. I wonder if there's an award for the person who's the farthest form the track, watching the race. Well...there should be. And I'm pretty sure I'd win.

PS - I got another package today - Thanks Friesens! Fudge covered Oreos, granola bars, and Starbucks coffee beans. I love my friends! (Now the Friesens are in the lead...having sent 2 packages. Not that I'm counting or anything.)

Good things come in packages...

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:06:47 EST

I love getting packages in the mail - I always have. I love coming home from work and finding a package waiting on your door step - especially when you least expect it. Now - my love for getting packages has increased exponentially since I've been in Australia. Did I say that I really like getting packages?

Today I came home from work and was greeted by a little brown box waiting patiently for me by the door. WOHOOOOO!!!! A package! Sabrina had come through with a shipment from home. Chocolate (mini Reese's cups and mini dove squares), deodorant, ant killer, and jelly valentines decorations. Now I realize to some that this may seem to be a strange inventory list - so let me explain:

Chocolate - duh! it's chocolate.

Deodorant - well, they really don't do solid deodorant over here - it's either roll on or spray. But thanks to Sabrina - I now have 3 sticks of Sure unscented.

Ant Killer - because the ants are taking over the kitchen, and they just laugh at the domestic brands I've tried. So I brought in the big guns - Terro (or ant crack as I like to call it). We'll see if it has any effect on the ants down under.

Jelly Valentines Decorations - Sabrina attached a note saying that these were screaming my name when she walked by them in the store. Not quite sure how to take that one - but I don't care - I'll take them.

So a mediocre day was saved by Sabrina's package.

Thanks Sabby - and thanks to others who have sent stuff packages: the Childress', and the Friesens, and the Kivetts, and Granny Sue, and the Watts, and mom - and I'm sure I've forgotten someone. You all are the greatest! (If your name wasn't on the above list, and you'd like to be included as one of 'The Greatest' - use the address below wisely!)

24 Blinco St Fremantle Western Australia 6160

Did I mention I like packages?

Ode To My Oakleys

Rick Hawkinson — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:09:02 EST

So last week my Oakley Minutes - that I've had for 10 years - were stolen off the counter at work. Needless to say, I was quite distraught...so I thougt I'd write a little memorial poem.

Ode To My Oakleys, my sun glasses…my friend.

I think that I shall never, never see,
The same without my favorite Oakleys.

We met at ‘the hut’ back in 1998.
It was love at first ‘sight’, and the fit was just great.
Not to buy you would have been such a disgrace.
So I walked out of the mall with you on my face.
Ten years of bliss, you and I, yes, we’ve had
But as I write this – well, I’m incredibly sad.
You’re no longer around – you’ve been stolen from me.
I’m a bit out of my mind – and I just can’t see
How I’ll make it without you, but I’ll have to try
So I wrote you this poem – sort of like my ‘goodbye’

Where do I start to try and recall
All our time together, we’ve had such a ball.

How we so loved to drive, just you and I
The road, the wind, scenery flying by.
There were several vehicles you lasted me through
The maxima, the pathfinder, 10 or so BMW’s
Wisconsin to the Keys, top down all the way.
Road trips to Texas and Maine – with lobster sorbet.
We covered the southeast; there was so much to see
I-26, 85, 95, and 40.
Charleston, Orlando, West Palm, and Atlanta.
Houston, DC, G’vegas, Savannah.
New Orleans, Columbia, Augusta, Nashville,
Pumpkintown, Pickens, Piedmont and Asheville.

4 trips to Daytona, the 500 to see
The 2, the 20, the 24, and THE 3.
We were together that fateful day by the shore
When Dale Sr. crashed going into turn 4.

Trips to the lake in the summer time heat.
Jocassee, Keowee, and Hartwell were sweet.
Chillin’ under the sun hangin’ out with good friends
You protected my eyes with your polarized lens…es.

We did the west coast as well, a great place to play.
San Diego to San Fran on Pacific Coast Highway.
Hollywood with its stars, just out of reach
Watching the surfers at Huntington Beach.
Stuck in 6 lanes of traffic on the 10 in LA
Heading north to the mountains, sunshine all the way.
What an incredible morning in Carmel by the sea
We went for an early run, just you and me.
Down by the ocean we ran just be feel
Then found a little trail, that led up the hill
To Pebble Beach golf course, yes a few holes we raced
And soaked up the history of that most holy place.
Then back on the road, the day going so well
To Napa for lunch, so much more we could tell.

Farther west to Hawaii, we hopped on a flight
Your protection was key, the sun was so bright.
Together we sailed the NaPali coastline
Rode bikes down a volcano with views so divine.
Watched surf comps at pipeline, and sunset beach
Dove with dozens of manta’s – they were so within reach.
At Pearl Harbor under a brilliant blue sky
You covered my eyes when I began to cry
As I remembered the sacrifice by so many, so young.
On that fateful morning in December - 1941.

We travelled abroad as well, you and I
Left on a jet plane – flew across that sky
Remember Christmas 02, what a time we had
Munich & Cologne were amazing, and even Stuttgart wasn’t bad (minus the whole Mercedes thing).
The English Garden on horseback in 18 inches of snow
The train through the Alps to see Venice below.
Wandering around that incredible city,
The history, the architecture, it’s sinking – such a pity.

Twice to Bonaire, you came right along.
The sun, the sand, the pink flamingo’s song.
Crystal clear water, as good as it gets
We witnessed some awesome ‘hand painted by God’ sunsets.
When I was diving you knew you just couldn’t come with me.
But on the shore, there you waited – so patiently.

St. Croix and Cozumel – paradise by the sea.
We dove, we ate, we discovered guacamole.

I want to go on, but I fear I just can’t.
I’ve run out of words, and I don’t want to rant.
So I’ll leave you with this, my trusty true friend.
I’ll try and buy another just like you…this isn’t the end.

um...The End, but not

No more ranting (for the time being)...

Rick Hawkinson — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:09:20 EST

Again, I apologize for going on a bit of a rant yesterday – but I had been reflecting on some stuff going on across the pond, had gotten myself all worked up – and all my ranting buddies, JC, Stu, Paul, Kev, Duncan and of course Mom, were all asleep (dang that 14 hour time difference!) so my poor blog took the brunt. If you don’t have a ranting buddy, I suggest you get one. Mine are great because usually they listen patiently for a bit…and then stop me and say ‘Dude, you’re ranting…shut up.’ All except mom of course (who may be the only one who realizes how truly brilliant I am) who usually gets as worked up as me, and we’ll just start ranting together. The funny thing is – ranting with mom usually leads to blaming everything on the democrats ;) (Love you Mom!)

So, I know this is going to be hard to believe, but I really don’t have all the answers to what ‘church’ should look like. I do know that there are no perfect churches, because they’re all comprised of flawed individuals – who are in desperate need of God’s grace. I do think we spend way too much time trying to create the perfect church, and not enough serving the people the Church was created to reach.

I’m convinced that we, as Christ followers, and church goers, need to sit down and ask ourselves a fundamental question. What is church? It’s my observation that we’ve made church into this once a week spiritual ‘fill me up’, and we tend to gauge the health of our spiritual life by how well church is going. I guess that just seems a little backwards to me.

A wise man once told me, “Find a church with a vision you can get behind, and then jump in and serve like crazy. And the more I read the bible, the more that seems like really good advice…so…

I’m currently serving in a church which has a vision I can get behind. A vision of getting into the community and loving/serving them unconditionally/sacrificially. This makes sense to me. This seems to be the way God has wired me. So I’m jumping in. Is the church perfect?? Um….let me say NO. Do we have a LOT to learn? Yep…bunches. What I do know is that I’m serving with a group of Christ followers who are totally in love with their God, and sincerely love this community. Are we making mistakes? Yep – daily. But I know that as we follow His lead, and as we continually and genuinely seek Him, He will make His way known for churchfreo.

Please be praying for us.

In the mean time…lovin’ God, lovin’ others. (Or at least I'm tryin')
Hey Childress…can we put THAT on a t-shirt???

Some books about this whole ‘what is church’ thing that have had an impact on me:

A Shaping of Things To Come – Hirsch
http://www.facingthechallenge.org/hirsch.php

The Forgotten Ways – Hirsch
http://www.theforgottenways.org/

Revolution – Barna
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Resource&ResourceID=196

Are we missing it??

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:57:06 EST

(This is a bit of a rant about stuff I've heard from home, and things I continue to read about the church in the US...sorry)

I'm a little bit...ok, well a lot frustrated. I'm convinced that Christians (which I proclaim to be one) are constantly screwing up the Church. First of all, we seem to have this idea that "church" is someplace we go on Sunday (or Saturday night if you're 'alternative') for a couple of hours to get our 'spiritual fill' for the week. Where did we get this idea? And to further add insult to injury - we constantly fight an bicker about what that 2 hour block of time (2 hours! are you kidding me...that's WAY to long!) should look like. Do we teach? What level of teaching? Should we sing? What kind of music? Should we have an organ or a band? Would God allow drums in His church? Sprinkle or dunk? Pass the communion plate, come to the table, or be served? Pews or chairs? Elected or appointed? Hymn books or projectors? Morning or evening or morning and evening?

And when one or mere of these don't meet our expectations, we complain - and maybe we leave because we aren't 'being fed.' What??? Is that what it's come down to?

The more I read about Jesus, the more I really feel we're totally missing the point. He even boiled it down for us - or at least for me (I'm not a smart man). Two greatest commandments...love God...love others. Obviously He knew we couldn't handle more than that.

Love God. Love Others. Love God. Love Others.

They will know you are Christ followers by your love. (Not your awesome church services.)

I'm a big fan of Christ's bride - the "big C" Church. I'm just not really digging the "little c" church at the moment.

More later.

It's gonna be great...at 408

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 8 Jan 2008 17:09:18 EST

408 South Terrace St. in South Fremantle is the address of the building churchfreo has 'taken over.' It has been vacant for a couple of years, so the last two weeks have been filled with cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning. Most of the interior was in decent shape - except for the kitchen. If you look at the kitchen photo in the "New HQ" gallery, you can sort of see what I'm talking about. For starters, it seemed that Jimmie Lynn, Sarah and Gareth had to clean through about 47 layers of grease before they hit bare surface. Half of the tiles on the floor are broken (the tile floor, which was put on top of an existing tile floor, which was - for some ungodly reason - put on top of the beautiful hardwood floor), and will need to be replaced. One of the big refrigerators didn't work and had to be removed (yes it was the Pepsi one Mary Beth...go figure). The HUGE 12 burner, industrial stove/oven wasn't worth trying to salvage and had to be removed. The previous owner had put up a temporary wall that was not too long for this world. And the old dishwasher had seen it's better days - so it got kicked to the curb.

Sunday night the 30th we met 'unofficially' (the space wasn't technically ours until the 1st) and during our opening prayer time, a guy noticed our sign outside and walked in.

After Chuck introduced himself to the guy, he said his name was Allan - and that "this all is just fascinating". He sat and listened for a few minutes, asked if he could keep the program we have him, and left. Our first walk in. Allan will forever live in infamy. (I really don't know what that word means...but it sounds good)

This past Sunday night, we had our first official 'gathering'. Most were back from Holiday and it was really nice to be worshiping together again. Here are a couple of pix:

After dinner, we all sat down and talked about our dreams and 'wish lists' for the building. It was really cool to listen to peoples ideas of how to use the space to serve the community. I don't want to get into too much detail at the moment. But I'll keep you guys informed as we go along.

Now obviously, one of the most important things we have to come up with is a name for the building. We really want something short, and not 'in your face' spiritual. Like 'The Place', or 'The Edge' - since we're on the south edge of Fremantle, or 'The Corner', or 'The Border', or 'The Spot'. Stuart Fuller suggested 'The Holy of Holies' - so we're kicking that one around as well (Stu's an idiot). Any other suggestions?

Hot Christmas...and French restaurants.

Rick Hawkinson — Thu, 6 Mar 2008 14:38:38 EST

So...it's pretty freaking hot down here. How hot you may ask??...go ahead, you can ask. Well, how about THIS hot:

Yesterday - Christmas Day - it got up to 108F and today it hit 112F, and I don't have air conditioning in my house. I've found that the trick is to get a good sweat going, and then turn on a fan. Surprisingly enough, I'm sort of getting used to it - and have even been able to sleep fairly well the last couple of nights.

I do have to say that now that I've been through both weather extremes at Christmas...I definitely prefer the cold. I really don't know how Rudolph and the fellas make it through Australia. They must drink a lot of water, and Santa must ditch the red furry Christmas garb for some boardies and a wife beater - or else there's no way.

In other 'cooler' news - after several months of meeting in houses and restaurants, churchfreo now has a place we can be really visible to/in the community. Last Saturday we signed a lease on an old, out of business French restaurant in South Freo. Below is a shot of the front, and I've put several more pix in the 'New HQ' gallery.

More later on the building.

Less church - More Church...and instant coffee.

Rick Hawkinson — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:04:49 EST

So our church here in Fremantle is going through some growing pains. It's not really that shocking when you think about it - not only do we have the normal issues most churches struggle with - differences of vision, leadership style, teaching expectations, etc, but then you go throw cultural differences on top of the pile and it's sort of understandable how a bunch of passionate people for Jesus...may not see eye to eye on everything. It's understandable, but sad - because the ones that are most negatively affected are the new and young Christ followers who all the sudden see dis-unity (ok, I made that word up) - and begin to wonder what the heck they've bought into.

Please pray guys - that as leaders, we are able to show LARGE amounts of grace and love towards each other, that God will clearly show us His path for this church, and that we as a body can show His grace and love to those He's put in our paths - everyday.

Now...on a MUCH more serious note - I have to admit to all of you that I have been living in sin for, well about the last 2 or 3 weeks. I've let sin into my house, put it in my cup, and drank it down - and sorta liked it. Yes, I've started drinking instant coffee. I know, it's a horrible thing. I can't even believe it myself. I really don't know how I got here, but alas - I am here, drinking instant freaking coffee. It started innocently enough - one morning I had run out of my cherished home roast, and really needed a fix, so I choked down a cup. And then after that it just seemed to get easier and easier. I then found myself actually sort of liking the taste (I can't even believe I'm saying this), and then last week, I bought my first jar.

Please forgive me. I know not what I do. But I know it now only takes me 24 seconds to make a cup of coffee...well a cup of a brown, coffee-like beverage.

Been a while

Rick Hawkinson — Sat, 8 Dec 2007 09:06:17 EST

Sorry it's been a couple of weeks - things have been in a bit of turmoil with the church lately. If you guys would, please keep us in your prayers.

Otherwise, things are going really well. Definitely missing being home for the Christmas season...but not missing the mad rush. No Worries!

More soon.

Great Thanksgiving - French/Auzzie Style

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:02:10 EST

Happy Thankgiving everyone.

I've been flooded with e-mails and facebook inquiries asking if I was able to find any Thanksgiving food and/or any Americans to celebrate with - and I'm happy to report that the answer is yes to both. Jimmie Lynn (the church planter's wife) is a member of the American Women's Society, and this year she was in charge of putting together a Thanksgiving meal for about 80 people. So she did what anyone would do - she hired a French Tapas chef (Stefan - a good friend of ours who has a Tapas restaurant here in Fremantle) to cook a traditional American Thanksgiving meal. No - you read it correctly - she hired a French tapas chef to cook and American Thanksgiving meal (which is anyting but tapas).......here in Australia. She had gotten recipes of dishes like sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, etc. from a bunch of the women in the club and then had to make Stefan PROMISE to follow them exactly. Jim said his face was priceless when he read the sweet potato casserole recipe, (in a thick french accent ) "Now are you sure you want me to put ten brown sugar and - what is this - marshmallows?? - in the sweet potatoes?!?"

And then a week before the event she asked if I could be 'the musical entertainment.' Sure...no worries I replied - forgetting I was helping on a dive course all weekend. So Tuesday and Wednesday (about the time I wrote my last post about being too busy) I was printing and learning 30 something old American favorites to be able to play on Thursday night. I felt like I was putting together one of those infomercial CD's. "Call Now - Over 30 Favorites you know and love!!" Songs like, All My Ex's Live in Texas, Brown Eyed Girl, Carolina in My Mind, Runaround Sue, Wonderful Tonight, Take It Easy, Southern Cross (thought that one was approptiate), etc, etc - and I even threw in some Christmas carols, but only ones that talked about snow - White Christmas, Jingle Bells, etc.

So to make a long story - well, semi short - the night went really well. We were set up outside, and the weather was beautiful. Stefan did an incredible job on the food - everyone agreed it was the most authentic American meal they'd had while in Australia. And I did a fair-to-middlin' job with the music. I only hit one or two wrong chords...and no one threw anything at me.

So although it wasn't home...it was really nice. Thank you all for checking up one me.

So busy...being busy.

Rick Hawkinson — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 11:47:04 EST

So on Saturday afternoon, I was sitting on the bottom of the deep end of a local pool here in Fremantle watching 8 open water students go through demonstrating their skills for the scuba instructor. While they were practicing clearing their masks, becoming neutrally buoyant, and breathing out of a free flowing regulator, I was sitting there trying to figure out how in the heck I was going to fit in all I had coming up in the next week.

At then it hit me like a Great White...I've only been in this country a few months, and already I've packed my schedule with a whole lotta stuff! One of the reasons I was excited about coming to Australia was that I would be able to step out of my busy-ness I'd created in SC and start with a 'clean slate.' Well, the slates got pretty freaking dirty really quickly.

Which then started me pondering (never a good thing) - why in the world do I (we) feel the need to jam up all our time with stuff? I've noticed since I've been here that Aussies (remember that AuZZies, not auSSies) don't seem to try and cram as much into their lives as we Americans do...but why. I went through the Pledge of Allegiance, the Star Spangled Banner, God Bless America, and even 'Born in the USA' - but I couldn't find anything that says as Americans that we're suposed to be crazy busy.

So then I tried to go back and figure out when I started thinking this way. Definitely not grade school - all I was worried about was kissing Patty Carfield behing the bushes on the playground. I don't really even remember the middle school years - they're pretty much a blurry fog. Maybe it started in high school, with sports, clubs, and...oh yea, studies. Picked up a bit in college, and then went full force as I hit the work world. I think there are probably a combination of factors that led to my busy-ness. Having to be creatively efficient to schedule real work around a plethora of useless meetings at work, a keeping up with the Jones' mentality of 'if he's got time to do that, I have time,' not liking to say 'no' when asked to help with something, and a bit of feeling like free time was 'wasted time.' Over the years, it seems I've been programmed me to pack as much crap as I possible can into my schedule. You only live once right! Now I'm not saying it's a conspiracy, but I think someone is out to get us. Maybe it's the Democrats...or Rush Limbaugh. But I say we have the power to STOP THE INSANITY!!

So I've decided to quit everything...

Ok, not really. But I have committed to taking a really close look and my schedule - and weeding out all the fluff...or at least some of the fluff.

...now if I could only find the time.

Another work shirt...and another Wolfpack win

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:02:19 EST

Sorry it's been a couple of weeks since my last post, but last week was pretty busy. I worked Monday and Tuesday morning at Bunnings from 5-8 helping to restock barbecues and outdoor furniture after the weekend, and then worked 8:30 - 6 everyday at the dive shop.

So my first week at the dive shop was good. The learning curve is steep at the moment, filling tanks, getting familiar with all the equipment/courses/trips etc. we sell, figuring out the whole 'system'. Here's my new work shirt:

I think I'm picking it up fairly quickly. My third day, they had me manning one of the shops by myself - so either I'm doing alright...or they're really desperate.

The best part of my first week was that I got to go out on the boat to crew and dive on Sunday. This was my first dive since I've been here, and it was a really good day. Mostly because it was over 100 degrees out of the water, and a nice chilly (freaking freezing) 64 degrees below. I was in a group with an instructor observing him with 3 students, so I didn't get to do a lot of sight seeing beneath, but at least I was in the water blowing bubbles. And on the way out to the dive site, we saw a humback...which was an added bonus. Here are a couple of pix from the day:

Diving here in the cold water (comes up from Antarctica) is a whole different experience from the tropical Caribbean that I'm used to. Thick wet suits and lots more weight...guess I'll get used to it.

Oh...and one more thing, just in case you hadn't heard. My Wolfpack has won 4 straight - the last victory coming over the little Tarholes.

Jamele Eugene scores the winning touchdown as the Pack takes down the Heels 31-27.

Yep...it was a pretty good week.

Jusso is going home ;(

Rick Hawkinson — Sat, 8 Dec 2007 13:50:24 EST

Let me introduce you guys to Justin Whitehead.

Now, I need to give you a little history here. Justin is from Atlanta, graduated from Georgia Tech (we won't hold that against him), and works for some company (sorry, can't remember the name - Work Brain or something like that) that sent him over here for to help with a project they had going on in Perth. So, preppy, Atlanta Justin met the Aussie culture...and over 8 months turned into the man in the picture you see above. OK not really - the pic is of Justin (Jusso - pronounced Juzzo - as he will henceforth be known) at his going away Halloween costume party....but he definitely has come a long way from the polo shirt / khaki short wearing pretty boy he was when he arrived.

I am truly going to miss Juzzo. He's been a great friend, and an awesome resource as I've been trying to figure this culture out. Thanks Juzzo.

I've put some more pix from the party in the gallery. Take a look.

And in other BIG news. How bout some props to my Wolfpack for knocking off #15 Virginia last Saturday. Definitely on the way up!

"Donald Bowens hauled in 11 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns as the Wolfpack upset No. 15 Virginia on Saturday night at Carter-Finley Stadium."

From BBQ's to BCD's

Rick Hawkinson — Sun, 6 Apr 2008 17:38:12 EST

Springtime has finally come to Western Australia and I'm starting to experience the weather everyone has promised. I was beginning to think I had been bamboozled and all it did was rain here, but this morning is a cool 70 degrees (check out the weather forcast on the toolbar at the right) with an incredible breeze coming in off the water, not a cloud in the sky...and now rain in the forecast for a couple of weeks at least. Spring is definitely my favorite time of year - and this year I get to experience it twice. 2007 will henceforth be known as '2007 - The Year of the Springs,' or '2007 - Double Sprung.'

Well, as I posted in my last entry, I went for an interview last week at a local dive shop, and to make a short story shorter, I got the job. So I'll be moving from selling barbeques and outdoor furniture to buoyancy control devices and underwater stuff. The company is called Dolphin Dive and has two shops - one of which just 'happens' to be directly in the center of Fremantle, and the other is a couple of clicks away in South Freo.

http://www.dolphindiveshop.com/

So it looks like I'll mainly be working in the stores at first - selling, merchandising, preparing rental equipment, filling tanks, taking bookings, answering questions, etc. I've also started my dive master training, so I'll be crewing the boat and observing other dive masters leading groups etc. It's going to be interesting...this is my first job where I'll be working where I normally play - but I'm really excited, and stoked about learning a bit more about the dive industry. Who knows, maybe after a couple of years here, I'll head off to some island and buy a dive shop. Duncan...you ready???

For all of you who had expressed such 'support' of my current job at Bunnings, there's no need to cry. I'm staying on as part time and will probably still do 10 or so hours a week there as well.

The difference between you and me is...

Rick Hawkinson — Fri, 2 Nov 2007 10:59:13 EST

...I MAKE THIS LOOK GOOD!!

Most of you have asked, some repeatedly, for me to post a picture of me in my new 'uniform' - so here you go. Now I know that for most of you, this is just ammunition you will use to make fun of and ridicule me, and I'm ok with that. I wear the bluish green apron with pride...sort of.

Here's another shot with one of my favorite co-workers Jazz. She not only taught me everything I know, she continually makes fun of my American accent, and scolds me for not smiling enough.

Today has been good. I'm kinda liking have Mondays off of work. As everyone else is hustling to work, I'm usually lazily making my way down to Angel's Café in Freo for a bowl of porridge (oatmeal) with bananas and honey, a coffee (BTW, here it's 'a' coffee, and not 'some' coffee, or just coffee. I guess in the US we mostly consider coffee to be plural - as in "let's go get coffee", or "how bout some coffee" - whereas here it's singular - "let's get a coffee."), and a chat with Suzanna - the owner. So, this morning I had my usual and then headed to Dolphin Dive Center here in Freo to sign up for their Dive Master course. The cool thing about doing the course through Dolphin Dive, is that they own their own boat, and while I'm in the program, I get to dive for free. By 'for free', I mean I get to help crew the boat and observe/assist guiding customers, etc. Each trip is usually a two tank dive to an offshore island here called Rottnest (or Rotto)

http://www.rottnestisland.com/en/Attractions/Diving+and+Snorkelling/default.htm

which normally costs $110, so after 8 or 9 trips, I'll have paid for my course. As I was talking to the girl at the shop, Debbie, the conversation moved to 'why are you here' yata, yata - and when she learned I has a work visa, she asked if I wanted a job. So, it looks like later this week, I may be interviewing at Dolphin Dive. Kinda out of the blue...but we'll see how it goes. Tough life...working in a dive shop, living in Australia...you know...sufferin' for Jesus.

Just walk across the room...in Lancelin.

Rick Hawkinson — Fri, 5 Sep 2008 20:33:49 EST

This past weekend our church went on a little retreat to a little town about an hour and a half north of Perth called Lancelin.

(Just a side note here - can I tell you how much I love being a part of a church of such a size that practically the whole church can go away together for a weekend, and fit in one big house! There was barely any floor space available, but we all fit.)

The study topic for the weekend was a DVD series on Bill Hybel's book 'Just Walk Across The Room' - which is basically a guide toward everyday evangelism. The book gives several simple steps we can to do overcome the hurdles we all have when it comes to sharing our faith. If you haven't read it...read it. It's an easy, interesting read, and if nothing else, it reminded me how important it is for me to be able to clearly explain, in a couple minutes, why I am a Christ follower. People don't care about being told how bad they are, or how much they need Jesus to make their lives "better." But what might interest them is my story. My story of how my life has changed because of Christ, how my priorities have changed, etc.

So, the study was good - but the best part of the weekend was being able to get to know several people on a little deeper level. A lot of you know how retreats are - you get away from the hustle and bustle, people tend to let down their guards a little, and you find yourself in some pretty cool conversations. There's nothing like a 80 degree day on a beautiful white sand beach, frolicking in crystal clear water - to help melt away the walls we all seem to put up.

Lancelin was cool. It's this tiny town right on the coast with nothing around it but sand. We swam, ate, surfed, sand boarded, ate, went 4-whellin', played street cricket, basketball, even through the baseball, and then we ate. Here's a map of where we were:

Here's a pic of the dunes:

And some of the Mad Max looking vehicles on the dunes:

And the perty, perty beaches:

It was a really, really good weekend. I'll put some more pix in the 'Lancelin' gallery.

Labour Day and The Footy...

Rick Hawkinson — Thu, 1 May 2008 14:24:53 EST

Today is my first public holiday in Australia - Labour Day. It's pretty much like our Labor Day - nobody really knows what it means, just glad to have the day off.

Not a whole lot to report this week. I'm finding that getting into the 'grind' here is pretty much the same as it is at home. Saturday was a big day here - it was the Grand Final for the Australian Football League - or Auzzie Rules. It's kinda like our Super Bowl, but not with near the amount of fanfare. The game was on Saturday afternoon, and being the newbie at Bunnings, I got scheduled to work...which was fine, because everyone was at home watching the footy (that's how it's referred to 'the footy' - I think because 'the football game' is way to long) and not out shopping. So during my lunch hour, I crowded around the break room TV with the other unfortunate schmucks that were working and watched some of the game. The match was between Geelong and Port Adelaide, and Geelong ended up killing PA something like 163 to 44 - so the game was kind of a letdown. Here's the winning team.

There were a few guys in the break room willing to explain the rules to me, so I think I pretty well get the game now. In a nutshell, it's kind of like soccer combined with ultimate, and a little bit of football. The object is to kick (punt) the ball through the posts at the end of the field. And to advance the ball down the field, you have to either hand pass (hit the ball out of your hand with the other hand) or punt the ball....all while the other team is trying to tackle you and take the ball away. If your team mate punts the ball to you, and you catch it in the air, you get a free kick if you want it. Play moves on pretty much like soccer - so I guess it's sort of like soccer - except you get to use your hands and hit people.

There are 4 goal posts at each end like below. You get one point for kicking the ball through the outer and middle posts on each side, and 6 points for kicking it through the middle.

It's actually a pretty cool game. Lot's of continuous action.

One other cool thing this week. While I was working on Saturday, I got a call from a woman inquiring about a barbecue and after I answered all here questions with the utmost professionalism, she asked about my accent...and long story short, she came to church on Sunday night. So maybe Bunnings will pay off after all.

Trial by fire

Rick Hawkinson — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:36:05 EST

My first full week at my new job was pretty crazy. My boss was in Melbourne for training, the 2ic (second in command) was out Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for a funeral, and several of the people in my department called in sick a couple of days - which left me, the newbie, covering a lot of the floor on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Nothing like getting thrown in the deep end to ramp up your learning curve. So it was a little stressful, but by Thursday and Friday I really felt like I somewhat looked like I possibly kinda knew what I was doing. The one thing that really surprised me was that I actually really enjoy dealing directly with the customers. Go figure!?!?!? Coming into this, I thought that dealing with the public was going to be the crappy part - but it turns out it's the most fun...so far. Now, I'm only a week into this thing, and I fully realize that maybe like the 35 millionth time I tell someone where the welcome mats are...I may very well flip out. But so far, so good. I promise I'll try to get some pictures of me in my elf uniform, and maybe some of the inside of the store - up really soon.

One strange thing was that I bet I had 40 customers sat to me, "That accent??...are you from Canada??" CANADA?!?!!? What are you talking abooot, eh??

On another note - I've heard from several missionary families that the 3 month mark is a tough one as far as loneliness, etc. The newness has worn off, and you start to get settled into a routine - except the routine doesn't include your best friends, your support system, and your exceptionally cute 2 year old niece. Well - I believe them. I hit 3 months this week - and it's tough. I know I'm supposed to be here, and things are happening...but it's still tough. I knew before what an incredible group of friends and family I have - now I REALLY know.

If you would, please keep me in your prayers. That I will continually seek to build my relationship with our creator, and that he'll make his direction plain and clear. Seems to be the theme prayer of my life...direction and clarity. Thanks guys.

Here's another addition to "The Price Is Not Right". These are just regular ol' lazy-boys...that will run you about a grand...ON SALE!!!

First week of work

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:02:07 EST

Well, I'm through my first week of work at Bunnings and I have to say it was really good. I had training at their headquarters on Monday and Tuesday, and then I was in the store Wed - Fri. The training was good - the usual team building, company culture, etc. Wednesday, however, was quite humbling. I wore my red shirt and blue/green apron (nope, I don't have any pictures yet - I'll try and get one tomorrow) and magically this is supposed to make me a do-it-yourself expert. So a typical conversation with a customer on Wednesday would go something like:

"Yes sir, could I help you?" (nice polite southern charm)

"Um...can you tell me where the welcome mat's are?"

"Well, (pulling out my cheat sheet) - I think they're in housewares somewhere around aisle 35, but I'm not really sure. But let's take a walk and go see."

It looks like they're going to put me in Outdoor/Leisure - so I'm becoming an expert on grills (barbeque's here) and patio furniture. So here's how a couple of barbecue conversations went:

"Sir - are you looking for a barbecue today?"

"No...I'm here in the barbecue section...looking for welcome mats." (no one actually said that, but that's something I'd say)

"Why yes I am, can you tell me the difference between these two barbecues?"

"Um, sure (reading off the box) it seems this one has a burner and that one doesn't."

So, needless to say, I've got a long way to go. But I think I'm picking things up fairly quickly - by Friday, I only looked like a partial idiot - not a total one.

I did find that being new, and having an American accent was probably the easiest conversation starter possible. Most are curious what I'm doing here, and why I left an engineering job at BMW to work at Bunnings. (Don't worry BMW guys - I didn't tell them the truth!) So I probably got to talk to 50 people about the church, and my motivation for coming etc.

We'll see how week 2 goes. I promise I'll try and have a pic of me in my uniform up really soon.

I am employed!

Rick Hawkinson — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 13:58:10 EST

Yes...you read it correctly - I now have a job. Last week Bunnings ( www.bunnings.com.au ) offered me the job of Team Member in their Outdoor/Leisure department.

The pay is not quite as good as BMW (ouch) - but I am really excited to get started. Throughout the interview process I've continually heard from employees, and from random people how great a place Bunnings is to work - we'll see. On Monday, I start 2 days of training at their headquarters here in Perth - and then start normal work on Wednesday. Another thing I'm excited about are the cool red shirts (I get to wear Wolfpack red everyday!) and blue/green aprons we get to wear. Check it out:

Top 10 list of things I'm looking forward to working at Bunnings:

10. Cool outfits.

9. I get to wear shorts if I want.

8. No cubicles!

7. Very few meetings!

6. Working with outdoor stuff.

5. Interaction with a lot of people.

4. NOT being an engineer.

3. Employee discount.

2. Four weeks vacation - right off the bat.

1. To be working for the best DIY provider where our ambition is to provide our customers with the widest range of home improvement products at the lowest prices everyday, backed with the best service.

More Auzzie life

Rick Hawkinson — Mon, 8 Oct 2007 16:54:50 EST

Here are my latest entries in "The Price Is Not Right":

$8.99 a kilo for bananas - are YOU bananas??? No, the price is not right!

Now most of you know how much I love this cool refreshing beverage. But as you can imagine, my consumption has dropped dramatically.

$2.88 for a 2 liter...please pass the water!!!! No, the price is not right.

Um, WHAT!?!?!? $429 for an electric razor. No, the price is not right!

There's another aspect of Auzzie life that I'm having a hard time coming to grips with...and that's Ugg boots. I know they are making their way to the US, but people wear them everywhere here. To the grocery store, to the gym, to dinner...pretty much anywhere. Shane showed up for diner one night in the black ones below...I just don't get it. I know they're warm and everyting..but seriously???

So, I'll probably get a pair...or maybe I won't. Check them out for yourself at www.australianuggboots.com.au

2nd and 3rd interview...and Shane Claiborne

Rick Hawkinson — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:07:10 EST

Yesterday I had a second interview at Bunnings. For those of you who haven't been keeping up, Bunnings is Australia's Home Depot, and since I don't want a lot of my time here to be tied up with a job - I figured that just working on the floor at Bunnings would not only be just a 40 hr per week job, but would give me the chance to meet lots of people.

So anyway during the interview, after several questions about my experience at BMW, the interviewer - Lianna - asked if I might be interested in the management program at Bunnings. She thought I'd probably do a really good job on the floor, but was worried that I might get bored - and that with my experience, I'd be a prime candidate for their management program. I explained to her the reason I was in Australia, and that I didn't want a job taking up a bunch of my time etc - to which she replied that managers typically worked 40-45 hours a week, and Bunnings is keen on helping their employees keep a good balance between work and personal life. I agreed to let her pass on my application to their human resource department to see if there were any management positions available, and she said she'd be getting back to me in a couple of days with more info.

Well, on my way home from the interview (now, I only live 5 minutes from Bunnings), Lianna called and said she had talked to HR and it just so happened that the area manager would be in the store on Tuesday and asked if I could come for an interview with him and the store manager. So today at 1, I have an interview with the area manager and store manager of Bunnings. We'll see...

On another note - I just finished a book last week that literally wrecked me. 'The Irresistible Revolution' (Shane Claiborne) took me on a little journey to meet the Jesus my inmost being has known and been crying out for - but that I have tried to sanitize a bit. Here's the intro from the back cover of the book.

"In 'The Irresistible Revolution', Shane Claiborne invites you into a movement of the Spirit that begins in the heart and extends through our hands into a broken world. Using examples from his own unconventional life, Shane stirs up questions about the church and the world, challenging you to live out an authentic Christian faith. This book will comfort the disturbed, disturb the comfortable, and invite believers to change the world with Christ's radical love."

And here's an excerpt; (p71)

"I wondered what it would look like if we decided to really follow Jesus. In fact, I wasn't exactly sure what a fully devoted Christian looked like, or if the world had even seen one in the last few centuries. From my desk at college, it looked like some time back we had stopped living Christianity and just started studying it. The hilarious words of nineteenth-century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkengaard resonated in my thirsty soul: "The matter is quite simple. The bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world?..."

I really want to go on and on, but I want you to read it - so pick it up and give it a read...if for no other reason - all proceeds from the book are being given away.

http://www.thesimpleway.org/

Another baptism...and an interview

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 00:11:10 EST

Sorry it's been over a week since my last post. I really don't have a good excuse - so you'll just have to forgive me.

Last week, we had another baptism here at churchfreo. Jarrad, who became a believer several months ago was baptized at our Sunday night gathering at a restaurant called Gypsy Tapas in downtown Fremantle. It was a really good night.

Today at 4, I have an interview with Bunnings. I turned in my application on Friday, and got a call back on Sunday to come in for a group interview - so we'll see. A lot of you have expressed an interest in my pursuing the 'chef' avenue, so I'm sorry to have to tell you that I've marked that one off the list. The hours were the killer - only 30 a week, but on Fri and Sat I'd be working 11-4 and then back from 6:30-midnight...every Friday and Saturday. Um...nope. Last weekend I also applied for several engineering jobs here in the Freo area - so we'll see. I'm getting ready to add several new pix to a couple of the gallery's - so take a look.

New job possibility...and more expensive stuff

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:01:59 EST

Now, don't worry - all of you who are so excited about seeing me in the Bunning's elfish work uniform...but another job possibility has entered the picture. And for those of you who may be thinking 'underwear model' - no, that's not it. I just felt that'd be a little too much exposure this early in the game. So the new career may be...chef. Yes I said chef. There's a little tapas restaurant that we've been renting for church some on Sunday nights - and the owner, Stefan, is looking for a new chef. Now those of you who know me may be thinking..."Rick doesn't know anyting about being a chef!"...and you'd be absolutely correct. And this was the first question I asked Stefan's wife Una last night during church (we had booked the Tapas house for church because we had another baptism - which I'll post about when I get the pictures) - and she said that as long as I liked to cook, and was halfway intelligent (so that may be a stretch) I should do fine. So, today I'm calling Stefan and am going to set up a time - probably on Wed. - to meet and talk about the job. We'll see.

I found a couple more 'The Price Is Not Right' items this last week as I was getting stuff for my new place:

#1) An ordinary small trash can:

$39.90?!?!? No, The PRICE IS NOT RIGHT!!

#2) An everyday laundry basket:

$25.00?!?!? No, The PRICE IS NOT RIGHT!!

#3) A Kitchen Aid mixer

$1125?!?!? No, The PRICE IS NOT RIGHT!!

#4) An ordinary, sturctural 2x4x8 - used for framing houses:

$9?!?!? No, The PRICE IS NOT RIGHT!!

#5) And last but not least is a plastic clothes hamper

$57.00?!?! No THE PRICE IS NOT RIGHT!!

TJ has asked that I include some food prices - so be looking for those.

Payin' the piper

Rick Hawkinson — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 20:37:51 EST

I've found that overall, prices here are comparable to what they would be in a big city in the US - when you take into account the exchange rate ($1 AUS = about $0.85 US). However, there are some things that are so different it's almost comical - so I've decided to catalog these items in a photo gallery I'll call...let's see...how about: "What the *%$##*!!??" OK, maybe I won't call it that - how about "The Price Is NOT Right".

So, I was grocery shopping the other day and ran across this gem:

Well, I didn't buy the quart size (600g), but I did spring for the $4 pint jar. You mayonnaise people out there know you can't skimp on quality!

Movin' on up...

Rick Hawkinson — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 19:23:33 EST

Well, I'm finally in my new place here in Fremantle. The last thing I needed was a bed, and God (in the form of Jimmie Lynn and a friend of hers) totally came through on Friday with a really nice bed at a really good price. I was convinced I was going to have to pick a mattress up from the salvo (salvation army) and try not to imagine what the funky stains were from.

Here's a pic of my new bedroom (this time from the inside):

And one from the back door (forgive the quality - I took pix from my phone at stitched them together):

Moving out of the Linkstons (for those of you who don't know them - they have 5 kids) has definitely been bittersweet. Bitter, because I love them - and they're fun to be around. Sweet - well...because sometimes silence is oh so sweet.

There are a couple more new pix in the 'House' gallery.

My first Auzzie baptism.

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 03:53:02 EST

As some of you may have noticed, I continually spell 'Auzzie' with z's instead of s's. The reason for this is that I'm trying to train myself to pronounce this word correctly. Evidently this is a big deal, because if you say 'Aussie' in front of an Auzzie, you'll get a scowl and a stern reprimand. I am improving though. I used to just flat out mis speak the work, but I've moved to "....Aussie...uuh, I mean Auzzie.." I'll get it...slowly but surely.

Last Sunday we had our second baptism at Church Freo - the first since I've been here. Gareth has been a believer for several weeks now, and decided he wanted to be baptized. So Sunday night, in front of one of our largest crowds yet...he was. (woop...woop!)

My second favorite part of the night - just behind the baptism itself - was hearing 50+ voices all singing/shouting in awesome acapella harmony:

"How Wonderful! How Marvelous! And my song shall ever be. How wonderful! How marvelous is my savior's love for me!"

It was a really good night.

I put a bunch of pix from the whole evening in the Gareth's Baptism folder - take a look.

New perspective...and humble pie.

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:01:55 EST

This morning, David and I went to the local gym to play a little pick up basketball. Evidently, at the gym we went to on Saturday mornings a bunch of Malaysian and Indonesian guys get together and play 4 on 4 half court. So David and I jumped right in (only 2 white guys there) and as we were shooting around before the game, something didn't feel quite right. Now, being 5'10" - I'm usually looking up at people when I play basketball, but as I looked around, there were only about 3 guys (out of the 30+ who were there) that were taller than I was - Dave being one (and he's 6'7" - so I can't imagine what a giant he felt like).

As I continued to ponder my good fortune, it looked like Dave and I were going to be on the same team. So I walked over and said something like "you know, we shouldn't lose a game", and I was fairly confident in this since David played semi pro for several years, and currently coaches a junior team in Perth - and I'm...well...not horrible. He just kinda smirked and said, in all his coaching wisdom, "it all depends on the two we get."

Well long story short, we played 3 games, and only won 1 - and that's only because Dave took control and brought us back singlehandedly for the win. The guys were fast, and they hustled (and fouled), and every one of their shots seemed to go in...and I think I got a little insight into how our recent NBA "dream teams" must feel as they're getting whipped by the world..."How are these guys beating us - there's no way they should be beating us!!"

A little bit of humble pie tastes good on a Saturday morning!

You've got mail.

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:01:48 EST

Moving to a different country is a lot like going to college in that it's really nice to get mail - that is of the non-bill/junk mail variety. So the last week has been really good because lotsa stuff has arrived here in Oz from the good ol USA.

First - huge thanks and props go to Mary Beth for the care package she sent. She must have done some research because she seemed to know exactly what kind of candy bars we can't get here. As you can see, the Linkstons, (r-l Ryan, Evan, Cooper and Chuck - in the neon yellow) thoroughly enjoyed the Reeses and the Butterfingers.

How could this care package get any better - you may ask? Well, being the incredibly thoughtful person that she is, MB wanted to make sure I had a little bit of Americana with which to celebrate the 4th of July (no worries that is was only about 3 weeks late - it's the thought that counts right) so here's what I got (along with 2 pkgs of really good chocolate truffles which lasted about 4.5 minutes):

I'm thinking that this t-shirt is going to be a really big hit around here!

Also, thanks to our father in heaven for the safe journey and arrival of my pallet of stuff (not that stuff is important - of course). I was starting to worry a bit after continually hearing stories of others experiences shipping across the ocean, but the pallet arrived relatively unscathed. The process of actually getting the pallet was an ordeal - I had to go to company that was actually handling the pallet and pay $600 for 'handling' (isn't that nice - you pay to have it shipped, and then you pay again to receive it) - then had to take the paid receipt and go to customs to have them verify the shipment and make sure I didn't have to pay duty - and then take that form to the warehouse where the stuff was being held - and set up an appointment with a quarantine inspector who met me and went through the shipment - then I was able to bring it home. And like I said, everything seems to have arrived in one piece - than you Jesus for small miracles.

Kalgoorlie

Rick Hawkinson — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 01:47:47 EST

Last Friday I took my first trip into the bush. I had planned to meet the Linkstons at their last stop of their vacation which was in Kalgoorlie. Kalgoorlie has, I think, the biggest gold mine in the world, and is also home to an christian Aboriginal community that the Linkstons had served with several times. It had been a while since they'd been, so Chuck and Jimmie Lynn had planned to stop in and visit.

Kalgoorlie is about 650 kilometers (400 miles) east of Fremantle - so I fitted my Rav4 with a couple of roo whistles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shu-Roo and headed east with the sunrise. As I left the Perth metro area, the terrain was a lot like the upstate - rolling green hills, curvy road - but then as we got out of town a bit, the road straightened out, and the scenery didn't change a whole lot for the remainder of the trip. (Lotsa pix in the new Kalgoorlie gallery.)

So Kilometer 100 looked like this:

km 300 like this:

km 500 like this:

You get the picture. Don't get me wrong, the scenery was quite nice. We drove through some eucalyptus groves, and a couple of sheep farms...and I didn't have to spend a lot of energy turning the steering wheel.

We met up with Chuck and the fam in Kalgoorlie about 1 PM and headed out to the Aboriginal community, only to find that they had decided to be elsewhere for the day. I'm not sure if schedules got crossed up, or if we really just weren't all that important (I'm guessing the latter), but it was like a ghost town. So we headed back into Kalgoorlie and met up with a really cool couple, Ian and I can't remember his wife's name, that had been in Chuck and Jim's church a while back, - we hung out, cooked kangaroo, and had a really good time.

Saturday we woke up, went out and checked the Super Pit - the big huge hole in the ground gold mine - and then headed back to Fremantle. It was a long, long trip, but a good one - and the roo whistles must have worked, because the only roos we saw on the road looked like this:

More Geography

Rick Hawkinson — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 01:44:14 EST

This morning, I was playing around with Google Maps and noticed a cool feature called "Dig a hole through the center of the earth." You can imagine my surprise, because I had no idea this was possible. I always figured the molten hot MAGMA would be tough getting through. I was quite disappointed to find that there was no actual digging involved, but only a feature that showed you where you would come out if you were to dig...a hole...through the molten hot MAGMA. So this was pretty cool too, since before I left a bunch of us had joked that I was literally going as far away from Greenville as I could get...in the world.

Well, as you can see from the map below - it's official. A hole directly through the center of the earth pops me up in Bermuda (have to keep that in mind) - which is only a few hundred miles off the South Carolina coast. Conversely, if you dug a hole from Greenville, you'd come up in the Indian ocean (that'd pretty much ruin you day, that's if you'd somehow made it through the molten hot MAGMA)a few hundred miles directly west of Fremantle. And since Fremantle is the farthest west I can get here, I am literally living in a city that's as far away as you can get from Greenville. You go any farther, and you're closer.

I used the distance tool as well and found that Fremantle is 11,463 miles (18,488 kilometers) from Greenville. To give you a feel of how far 11,463 miles is - think of making the drive from Greenville to Charleston (225 miles)...51 times, or Greenville to New Orleans 19 times, or Greenville to Los Angeles 5 times, or the kicker - the drive from East Side High School to Riverside High School (3 miles according to Google)......3821 times. Anybody up for the challenge??

I also put the map in the MISC gallery - if you want to see a bigger version.

A little geography...and idiot disciples.

Rick Hawkinson — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 23:59:20 EST

On Saturday morning, Shane - who plays guitar at our church (pictured below) - took me to Mandurah to see the lot where he is building a house. If you'll look at the map above and find Fremantle (on the coast just south of Perth) then continue south along the coast until you run into Mandurah. Southwestern Australia is really growing - and Mandurah seems to be getting a lot of the influx.

Shane got in at the right time and picked up two lots in a beach front development that have both at least doubled in value over the last year or so. I've really got to get into the real estate business!

So anyway, we went down to check out the progress on construction - and to take a look around the town of Mandurah. Below is the view - a couple hundred yards from Shane's front door. I've also added some more Mandurah pix to the new Other Aussie Scenery gallery.

Last night here at our church gathering, Steve (another guy who plays guitar...sorry, I don't have a picture) spoke on a passage in Matthew that has a lot to do with bread. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2015:22-16:10;&version=65; The point of the talk was how Jesus frequently used bread to illustrate what we are 'taking in' to ourselves - 'I am the bread of life,' his praise of the Canaanite woman for begging for even scraps from the masters table, his warnings to watch out for pharisee yeast, etc - and Steve challenged us to examine what kind of bread we were filling ourselves with. I quickly answered, "Earthgrains Wheat Berry" (which by the way they don't have here) - but evidently that wasn't the right answer.

The thing that really stuck in my head about the passage was what idiots the disciples were. They'd been hanging with Jesus for some time now, were seeing all kinds of miracles, only a couple of days earlier had watched him feed 5000 people with a couple of loaves of bread and a few fish - yet when Jesus asks them to gather food so that the 4000 people who had been there for 3 days without eating (can you imagine how amazing what Jesus was doing and saying must have been for 4000 people to go 3 days without eating!) would be strong for their journey home - the disciples reply..."so um, where are we going to get food out here in the middle of no where for all these people?"

WHAT...ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?

And then we can laugh at them again in CH 16 when they totally miss Jesus' point about Pharisee yeast. What a bunch of idiots! Where did Jesus get these guys??

But then, as I start to think about my own life, and how God has been gracious enough to continually show himself to me - even though I doubt, and somehow seem to do the same stupid things over and over, I really have to cut the fellas some slack, and again thank my God for his unending, undeserved, unfathomable grace for an idiot like me.

Place to live, possible job...and coffee.

Rick Hawkinson — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 02:08:18 EST

This morning I'm sitting in this cool little place I've found in Fremantle called Angel's Café. I finally found somewhere that offers wireless - evidently it hasn't caught on like in the US yet. I'm eating porridge with bananas and honey (oatmeal), and drinking a Long Macchiato, or Long Mac (2 shots of espresso, milk, and foam). They don't really do drip coffee here - everything is based on espresso shots. This has taken some getting used to - especially since the least expensive cup of coffee is $3, but I think I'm starting to come around. For you coffee lovers, the link below will explain a lot of the coffee drinks you'd see on most café menus in Australia (so you'll be well versed when you come to visit)!

http://www.missmaud.com.au/Coffee/MissMaudEspressoCoffeeRecipes/tabid/92/Default.aspx

I believe I've found a place to live. Natas - a new friend - has a roommate moving out at the end of July, and has offered me the room. This is definitely an answer to prayer, because he's got a cool little house a 10 minute walk from downtown Fremantle, (12 minutes to the beach - that's a 12 minute WALK to the beach) with fairly big bedrooms, a good sized kitchen, a deck that wraps 180 degrees around the house, a detached garage - which currently is Natas' bedroom, but he's keen to possibly turn into a recording studio...and a hot tub - all for about $500 a month. I mean seriously...this suffering for Jesus thing sure is difficult. The above pic is from the back of the house, and I've added a gallery for some others. I've also added severly more pix of downtown Freo the the Fremantle/Perth Scenery gallery. Check them out.

I'm also contemplating employment (if I must) here at a place called Bunnings - Australia's version of Home Depot. Advantages to this job are it's only a couple of miles from the house, decent pay, good hours (only open until 6 on weekdays and Saturdays - and not open Sunday), employee discounts (chuck will love all the hook ups I can get him), and an incredible opportunity to meet a lot of people from Fremantle. Disadvantages...well, the uniform is red shirts and green aprons - so basically I'd look like an elf all the time. Check out the link below and you'll see what I mean.

http://www.bunnings.com.au/employment/default.aspx

So, Bunnings is at the top of the list at the moment - but I'll continue to look for another week or so.

Otherwise, things here are going well. The Linkstons are gone for a couple of weeks, so I've really been spending a lot of time in Fremantle - walking, praying, drinking lots of espresso. It's been really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, good.

First Rugby Game

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:01:43 EST

Last night - since I couldn't watch the Pepsi 400 from Daytona, I went with some friends to watch a rugby game/match (I'm not sure if it's a game or a match...another question to add to the list) at a bar just north of Fremantle. Evidently this was a fairly important game within Rugby Union - Australia vs. South Africa. Rugby isn't huge in Australia - probably 4th behind footy (Australian Rules Football), cricket (haven't cracked this one yet - they have matches that last 5 days!), and soccer - but rugby does have a very passionate group of fans. The pub was packed with mostly Australia fans - obviously - and a few South African fans - all wearing their colors (or colours), yelling and cheering. Think NFL playoffs at Barley's and you'll have a pretty good picture.

The game was pretty good, and Australia pulled off the upset - even after being down 17-0, so the crowd left happy, and I left having semi-learned a new game (thanks to a new friend who patiently explained the rules, and then answered every question I threw at him) and having met several new friends. It was a good night.

Presenting...the Linkstons

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:01:40 EST

A couple of you have requested pix of the Linkstons - the fam I came to serve beside - so I've given them their own photo gallery. Take a look. They're a pretty cool group - all except Jordan (top left) - I can barely tolerate her. She is, however, becoming quite the math whiz....with my tutoring of course.

From top to bottom - left to right: Jordan, Jimmie Lynn, Logan, Chuck, Ryan, Evan, Cooper.

I also added a Fremantle-Perth Scenery gallery in which I'll be adding pix as I take them.

And behind door #2...

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:01:37 EST

IT'S A BRAND NEW CAR!!! Or more like a SIX YEAR OLD CAR THAT SEEMS TO COST AS MUCH AS A BRAND NEW CAR!!!

So finally car shopping is finished - thankfully. I know none of you feel sorry for me, but after 7 years of not having to deal with car stuff, and having new BMW's every 9 months, getting back into the real world has been a traumatic experience. I ended up getting a silver 2001 Toyota Rav4, and it feels good to be back in the sport utility family after 7 years of cars.

I did have a cool conversation with the salesman as we waited for my truck to come back from being detailed. Les is about 60, has lived in Perth his whole life, and has never been to the US. So we tried to dispel the stereotypical rumors we'd heard from each others respective country. His two biggest questions: 1) Do American police really shoot lots of innocent people. and 2) Since it's lawful to shoot an intruder that is inside your house, do people shoot intruders outside their house and then drag them inside so they don't get in trouble.

Some gun slingin' rep we sure do have.

I asked him if everyone carries a Crocodile Dundee knife, if Fosters is really Australian for beer, and if we went Outback tonight - will life really still be there tomorrow. I mean...I thought it was kinda funny.

Independence Day - sort of...

Rick Hawkinson — Sun, 8 Jul 2007 12:11:17 EST

Today a group called the American Women's Club put on a 4th of July celebration for...well, the Americans. It was pretty fun, hot dogs, candy you can't get here (Reese's PB cups - Hershey's, etc.), American music, red white and blue everywhere, they even had the Shelby mustang club bring a bunch of show mustangs out. It's pretty weird celebrating the 4th in another country. Definitely makes you thing of how much we take for granted.

I added some pics to the gallery from picnic and from church tonight. Sorry about the quality - all I had was my phone.

A Different Kind of Convenience Store

Rick Hawkinson — Sun, 8 Jul 2007 12:11:37 EST

(Warning: Rated NC-17 Photo)

I'm walking along in downtown Fremantle yesterday and pop into a corner convenience store to grab something to drink. As I waited for Jordan to catch up, I stepped over to check out this glass case filled with these cool little souvenir trinkets. And as I took a closer look, I realized that these little trinkets will get you arrested in the US.

How about the skull???

Welcome to Fremantle.

I added the pics to the MISC gallery if you want to get a better look.

Car Shopping

Rick Hawkinson — Sun, 8 Jul 2007 12:11:55 EST

Went car shopping today. It's quite depressing after driving new BMW's for the last 7 years that now I have to pay lots of money for a car that won't be near as good. Oh well, suffering for Jesus I guess.

The current first choice is a 2000 Toyota Rav-4 (pictured) - small SUV. All time 4wd, 4 cylinder 2.0l engine (ouch) manual. Power windows locks, no cruise control. 110K kilometers...now brace yourself... $20,000. Ouch.

More shopping tomorrow.

Croc-auges

Rick Hawkinson — Sun, 8 Jul 2007 12:12:23 EST

Forgot to mention in my last post that I ate crocodile Sunday night. After church we had an Auzzie 'sausage sizzle' and they had gotten some kangaroo and crocodile sausages for the Americans. I had had kangaroo before (tastes like venison), so I went right for the croc. It pretty much tasted like...well, like chicken. Ok, not really - but I had so much catchup and grilled onions on the sausage that I probably didn't get the full effect. It didn't really taste like anything, but who knows what they shove in a sausage and call crocodile around here. Probably like what we grind up and call a hot dog at home. But at least now I can cross "Eat crocodile" off my list.

Now, to try Wombat stew.

What the heck?!?!

Rick Hawkinson — Sun, 8 Jul 2007 12:12:44 EST

I'm finding out quickly that one of the biggest difference between the US and Australia is the cost of things. Now keep in mind that the US dollar is a bit stronger than the Auzzie dollar (.85 to 1) so 85 US cents is worth one Auzzie dollar...but still, get a load of some of these prices:

1 bottle of isopropyl alcohol - US price 85 cents - Auzzie price $8

Bananas - US price 49 cents a pound - Auzzie price $5 a pound

2 liters of Diet Coke (those who know me know how important this is) - US price $1.25 - Auzzie price $3

Small coffee - Starbucks US $1.50 - Auzzie $3.50

Hopefully wages/salaries will be more here to offset the price...we'll see.

Almost a week

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:01:31 EST

So, I've been here almost a week, and as the newness begins to wear off, it's getting a little intimidating realizing I'm doing life here for the next few years. Getting a job, and a car, and a place - seem like this monumental obstacle in front of me. I didn't think it would be this hard to get out of "Greenville, SC" mode and into Auzzie mode. It's also been really cold and rainy here, which hasn't helped getting going. Here's a startling bit of information, most Auzzie houses don't have heat - so I've been freezing my south carolinian ne-ne's off for the last few days. It's been getting down into the high 30's here at night, so you can imagine how cold it gets in the house. NO HEAT"?!?! What the heck?!?!?

This week, the plan is to put the finishing touches on my resume and get it sent to a couple of employment agencies, and to get some $$ wired over here from my account in the states so that I can buy a car - so we'll see how that all goes.

Getting settled in

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:01:27 EST

The last couple of days have been spent running around trying to get me settled in to my new home. I went and got my Medicare card (universal health care here), opened a bank account, got a phone (and I thought cell phone plans were confusing in the states!), and looked at cars (outrageously expensive) - all while fighting jet lag.

Things I still have to do from my initial list: 1) Get a drivers license 2) find a job and 3) find a place to love (or live). All while trying not to forget the big reason I'm here. What was that again? It seems to slip so easily to the background.

Finally Here!!!

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:01:24 EST

I MADE IT!!!

It's now 3:03 PM on Monday (which is 3:03 AM in Greenville) - and after 6 airplane meals, 5 hours of layover, 4 plane changes - Charlotte, Chicago, San Francisco, Sydney - 3 hours of sleep in the last 40, 2 really heavy bags, and 1 almost altercation with a Quantas ticket counter associate who wouldn't let me carry my guitar on the plane from Sydney to Perth...I'm finally here.

Thanks to all of you who helped me get ready for this trip. I couldn't have done it without you guys. Also, big thanks to our Father who for some reason wants me talking about him to Australians. Proves he has a big sense of humor.

Stay tuned.

In the beginning...

Rick Hawkinson — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:24:36 EST

I'm sitting in the Charlotte airport , got Brandi Carlile cranked in the headphones (thanks JJJ), waiting for my flight to Chicago...and I'm trying to figure out how in the heck I got here! A couple of years ago I remember feeling quite a bit restless with my life, and I believe I prayed a time or two that God would shake things up a bit. So evidently that prayer got through, because now I"m sitting here on the wrong end of 34 hours of travel to Perth, Australia. Australia?!?!? What the heck?!?!?

It's been interesting watching God work the past 18 months to set this up. I've learned a lot already, and I've only just begun.I really can't imagine, but am so excited to see how He works in/through me over the next few years. Hopefully y'all will take the journey with me here at killerhawk.com. I'm committing to writing in this thing at least a couple times a week - so please help keep me in check.

The first hurdle is to get through the nest 34 hours. Especially the 16 hour leg from San Francisco to Sydney. If the plane goes down, y'all have to promise to not stop looking for me. I'm sure I'll just be hanging on some uncharted island pushing some dang button every couple of hours and trying to keep Hurley from eating all the food.

Later...

A Pretty Cool Afternoon

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 04:14:52 EST

So, yesterday I had scheduled one last round of golf with my little brother Paul before I leave on Saturday. We were slated to continue a grudge match against his father-in-law and a friend, so I headed up to my home course - Asheville Municipal - for what I expected to be a pretty fun afternoon.

Have you ever had the unexpected experience of what you know has to be a little bit of heaven on earth - well, that's what our round turned into. The weather was beautiful, the fellowship was great, and Paul and I were playing out of our minds - which makes golf a really, really fun game. A 20 minute thunderstorm blew through after about 4 holes and pretty much cleared everyone else off the course. But as soon as it passed, the sun came out and we continued on.

After the front nine, the other two left (having been thrashed severely) and Paul and I played the back nine by ourselves. It was seriously like they had closed the course for us - no one slowing us down ahead, no one pushing from behind, and a rare cool sunny summer afternoon. I got to spend two amazing hours walking and talking with my bro - while we continued to play some pretty good golf.

We sank a putt on 18 to finish at 5 under, and I walked off the green with an incredible peace and a renewed knowledge how how cool my little brother is...and well, it was pretty much perfect.

Who says golf isn't a spiritual experience?!?!?

Getting closer

Rick Hawkinson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:01:35 EST

Five days and counting...and about a million things to do. Aggggg.

I'm leaving town!

Rick Hawkinson — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 05:33:12 EST

My flight leaves from Charlotte at 4:30PM on next Saturday the 16th. Charlotte-Chicago-SanFrancisco-Sydney-Perth. 34 hours. 16 hour leg from SanFran to Perth. Any suggestions on how to make it halfway bearable??