What is your life’s purpose?

While at Philip Island recently, we went to the Baptist Church there. Their Weekly Bulletin had a quote on the purpose of one’s life, by Rick Warren. The basic thought was, that everyone is driven by something in his or her life. It might be a problem or some pressure or deadline or some other thing. What it is, is not as important as is knowing what your purpose in life is. It is this knowledge that gives your life real meaning and direction. Knowing your direction in life simplifies and gives direction to your life. “Without a purpose, life is motion without meaning, activity without direction, and events without reason. Without a purpose, life is trivial, petty and pointless.”

As I thought on all that, I suddenly realised that that was what had been missing in my life for the past few years and it was only lately that I have re- found my meaning and purpose in life again. And with this came the realisation that it was this journey (of re-finding my life purpose again) that has been the un-conscience inspiration behind a lot of my blogs in the past few months.

The past few years have been good in one sense but they also have been a period of wandering and wondering too. A time when my life has been trivial and pointless! Now that I have re-found my purpose again, I am stepping out boldly on that journey again. The goal is still the same, the direction, still the same, but just a different “vehicle” to get me there. In the past I was an Associate Pastor for 12 months on my way to being an overseas missionary for 12 years, then when that unexpectedly finished, directionless; till now. So now I am returning to the task of leading a Church, but this time as the official Pastor of a small Independent Baptist Church, with our/my inauguration service today. But that’s enough about me and my purpose in life.

What about you? Do you know what your purpose in life is? Has it, or just you, changed over the years? Does your life still have meaning? Or do you, like me till recently, need to make significant changes? If so, are you prepared to do what is necessary to make these changes? Are you? It has not been easy to do this for me, but it has been done. I have done it, so, so can you! But will you try? Will you?

Cape Paterson Revisited.

While on our Philip Island holiday, we returned to the mainland for a day trip and visited the coast at Cape Patterson past nearby Wonthaggi. Cape Paterson is another of the places I have visited periodically over the past 50 odd years, first as a child with my family and later by myself and later again with my own family, and now just with my wife.

Leaving my wife reading in the car and walking down to the beach from the car park I had two different reflections come to mind. One I will talk about here and the other at a later date. (Not Cape Paterson Revisited).

Walking down from the car park little, initially at least, looked different and it was almost like going back some 50 years in a moment. In fact, at first glance the only thing different in my memory was that on this particular day, being winter, there was no one on the Beach! When we used to go there it was right after Christmas and people were swarming everywhere then.

The small cove there looked the same. The semi natural swimming pool in the rocks was still there, although on closer inspection it didn’t seem as deep as it did way back then.

Looking around however, although the Life saving Club Buildings and Playground was still there, many of the old buildings of my Youth had gone. Some like the old cement /Stone toilet block which then, looked like it would stand for ever, is gone with just a flat piece of the old floor left to show that something once stood there. . At least there was a sign that something once stood there, unlike with the old stone shop near the foreshore. Again another old solid building that looked like it would last forever but didn’t. Although it had long been closed, even when last visited some 10 or so years ago, it has now gone completely and if it weren’t for my memory, there would be nothing to indicate that anything ever stood there.

Man made things come and go. Sometimes there will be the signs of ruin left. At others no sign what soever, But the things of nature, the things God made, remain. Yet even there, there will be gradual change over the decades and centuries. Nothing, even the most solid, remains unchanged forever, and neither should we.

Yes there will be things of our childhood that remain like the beach, but there will be also many others that won’t and they should be accepted as memories of the past, things to be brought out for a while, and then put away again and to move on with your lives.

I thoroughly enjoyed my Holiday visits to the past, but don’t want to live there again. I want to use them to draw strength and encouragement from, and then to move on into the future to make new "Past Memories”.

How about you? Are you still living in the past, or are you just re-visiting to draw strength for the future? What think you?

Wonthaggi Revisited.

While on our Philip Island holiday, we returned to the mainland for a day trip and visited nearby Wonthaggi. Another of the places we have visited periodically over the past 50 odd years.

It was an interesting experience to just first drive around it and later to walk through the old centre. It was an interesting contrast as it was new around the edges with a big Supermarket, Mc Donald’s, KFC etc added since my childhood. However, at first appearance the old centre had changed very little with most of the old buildings still there and little redevelopment in the main CBD.

However on closer inspection it was observed that while many of the old buildings remained, not many of the old business were the same although some were. In its heyday, Wonthaggi was the centre of the coal mining Industry there, and when that closed down; it became more of a business centre for the surrounding Farmland and Dairy Industry.

Nowadays however it is more a Touristy town, with a lot of smaller businesses catering for them. So these days Wonthaggi has changed yet again from what it was to what is currently needed. Once a Coal mining centre, then a farming centre, and now a tourist centre and Later? Who knows!!

What about Us? Are we the same as we used to be or have we too changed?

Around the edges only? Or at our centre too? Wonthaggi has changed to suit its current environment. It hasn’t changed just for the sake of change, but for the sake of successful survival. Nor has it changed everything. Only those things that will enable it to continue on in a successful manner have changed. Those basic things, like some of the original businesses, still remain.

What about our lives and us? Are we exactly the same as we were 10, 20, whatever years ago? Refusing to change yet wondering why “nothing is happening for Me”? Or have we changed a little around the edges but not at the centre? In other words are we surviving, but only just? Is there something or things at your centre that need to be changed? I

What in our lives, what in your life, do you need to change, either completely or to simply modify? Mostly it will not be a radical overnight change, but like with the CBD of Wonthaggi something that not so much happened, but is happening over a number of years and always ongoing, a little here and a little there at the appropriate time.

I will close with these four questions for your reflection:

1. What were you in years gone past? (Coal Town- Rural business centre.)
2. What are you now? (Tourist Town.)
3. What will you be in the future? (…?)
4. What do you need to change to succeed at becoming point 3? (Lifestyle, friends, bad habits, job, the list is endless for you!)

Well, what if anything, do you need to re-evaluate in your life and what will you do about it?

For me it was changing jobs and moving back to what ii used to do. Who will it be for you? Let us know sometime, Walter

San Remo Aquarium.

While at San Remo recently, I walked out onto the Jetty and came back alongside the San Remo Aquarium. Well at least that’s what it claimed to be, but it is now just a fish and chip shop.

Oh yes there is still a large Aquarium in the window but it had a large sign saying the fish tank were empty due to Stage 4 Water restrictions there.

Despite the fact that that I think that was an easy excuse to explain that that part of the business has closed down, I thought that even if true, it shows a certain lack of thinking at the pre-planning stage. A simple case of not using what is readily available and using a more expensive base material.

This now empty aquarium stands no further than 30 to 40 metres from the water’s edge right on the land end of the pier at San Remo. Water a plenty for the taking!

Sure it is salt water and therefore any fish put in it would have to be of the salt-water kind. And even if they wanted to display tropical fish (not native to the Cold Victorian waters), they only have to add a heater or two to get the required temperature. (Talking of tropical Fish, I need to check mine again after our break away.)

The thing is that if the people at San Remo Aquarium really wanted fish in their tank in a time of drought, there at the Jetty they would always have no real problems in getting it fresh whenever they wanted it. Simply by using what is freely and readily available locally (sea Water) and maybe a little of extra muscle (Carrying the water from the pier) and perhaps some outside help (a Heater). With a combination of that and maybe one or two others, they could still have as many fish as their aquarium could healthily hold.

But what about us? Do we too sometimes fail because we try too hard? Do we try the expensive when the common is at hand? Do we really try in the first place, but simply “give it a shot” and then use the first excuse at hand to walk away? Sometimes in the past I too have done this! Which I guess is what makes me much more careful now. And to a large degree that is what all of us should do. Be careful first! By all means try new things and try your dreams but do more due diligence first and take more care to start with and consider all the options and even prepare for the possible problems that may occur before they occur.

So in conclusion, how is your Aquarium going? Empty or full? Or like mine, in need of topping up today? Take care. Walter

Rocky Way.

Walking along the uneven and often pointy stones introduced to the San Remo foreshore to slowdown the erosion of the foreshore, was neither too difficult or easy. It was certainly achievable but one had to keep ones eyes sharp for stones that could/would move under your weight. Despite that I mostly made good time and passage. I say mostly as at one stage I made one misstep that had me hopping, and I do mean literally. I obviously made a miscalculation or miss-step and suddenly I was off and running. Well I had to do something to try and reclaim my balance again! No! I didn’t count them but reckon I took 15 to 20 steps before I could control my balance and come to a safe stop and regain my composure.

That one simple easy miss-step caused me to lose control and direction over everything I was doing and staying upright was my only concern. How often is this mirrored in real LIFE?

How often have we started off confidently in a new direction, or even an old one, taking into account, even if only cursory, the prevailing conditions, changing and adjusting as we go in minor degree and mostly succeeding as we go, when suddenly a major misstep occurs from a minor or common procedure and we lose balance and direction and just struggle to maintain our basic survival? What do we do then?

It is this next step that is often the most important and will often have a major effect on deciding our future successes or failure.

Do we, stop altogether and just stay there forever, or just till we have regrouped and regained our balance?

Do we continue on Blindly, or do we continue on in a slightly different manner?

Do we finish that particular journey, as best we can to either complete success or at least to an acceptable, if not completely satisfactory conclusion?

Do we continue on or do we move on to a new adventure?

In my life I have done all of the above at various times in my various endeavours. No one way is right all of the time. The trick is in thinking about all the options before you proceed any further.

How are things in your life journey so Far? If great, fine and terrific, but what steps do you need to think of now, to maintain this great progress?

If not so great or even disastrous, what do you need to consider before attempting to either move on or move out to something different? I’ve had some failures in my life, but I consider them also as some of the most valuable learning times I have ever had. Failure happens even to the best, so don’t be embarrassed by so-called apparent failure. Look at those times as extra special learning times and benefit from them. Don’t ignore or hide from them but learn from them.

Learn from them and regain your balance and move on again, whether that is in the same direction or a completely different one. Just think about it thoroughly first. Consider all the options and chose the best one for you at that time.

Have a nice day! Walter

San Remo Beach.

On our way to the holiday house where we were to stay whilst at Cowes, we stopped on the Sam Remo side of the bridge to Philip Island and I went for a walk from the Jetty around the point towards the back beach. It has changed a lot since the last time I made that attempt. Obviously there has been a lot of erosion of the sand dunes as lots of big rocks have been deposited along the tide line of the beach with some wooden step accesses to the beach at various places.

When I was walking there it was close to high tide so walking along the rocks, although not impossible, was not easy, so I anticipated just walking along to one of theses wooden step accesses and upon using it to escape from the beach and rocks, find my way back to Main Street through a back street or two.

Well the first two I tried, led back to the back of a Caravan park but both were blocked off and escape could not be made using either of them. I decided then not to try further on, but to back- track the way I came, to the car. Much closer to the start was another walkway offering a short cut but it too led to a dead end. This time, in an old car park, now blocked off with a giant heap of these stones now being uses to hold up the shoreline.

All these still functioning access stairways offered hope of access or escape from the beach but were ultimately useless. In fact, worse than useless, as they offered hope and expectation of a way to escape the beach and rocks. An expectation of a way out that led to dead ends and thus time and energy were wasted just trying to use them.

Yes all offered the hope of escape or a short cut away from the rocks on the beach but that hope was misleading and false.

Oh yes at one time it was a genuine hope and help but now that hope was not only false but possibly dangerous if it had have been an emergency. These supposed accesses should either be completely removed or else properly signed at the beach-end as being out of commission temporarily.

But what about us? Are there things in our own lives that we once did that although once effective and useful now offer false hope or expectations to others around us. Do we need to remove some things now no longer operating in our lives and perhaps put up a few new current and relevant signs? I’m still thinking about it so, over to you: Walter