MattGlover.com

Sorry for the long delay in posting. Health and other reasons have meant it simply hasn’t happened.

But thank you to everybody who has contacted me to see if I’m ok with respect to the tragic fires that are still happening in my part of Australia. While the fires were close to my home (about 15 km) we were never really in danger. However, over 1000 homes have been destroyed, over 180 people have died and the community is grieving.

I spent some time this week at one of the relief centres close to my home. Here’s an account of what happened:

Like everyone, I’ve known some families deeply affected by the fires. Words can’t describe the pain.

I spent the day at Whittlesea yesterday as a chaplain offering pastoral care to those returning from the mountain having seen their devastated homes and properties for the first time. Much of my time I spent with families with young children.

I spoke to little Jess who was five. She introduced herself, “My name’s Jess and my home burnt down”. She told me about how hot it was and how scared they were. Her little brother Jake told me the bricks on his house were glowing orange. They were lucky - both they and their parents got out alive.

I met Paul outside the relief centre, dazed and confused. He could barely see, was having trouble breathing, was walking with a limp and had some obvious pain in his back. He had been up at Kinglake since Saturday and this was the first time he had come down to the relief centre. A neighbour had forced him into a car and brought him down to get help. He had lost everything he owned and many friends. He told of bodies over the roads and footpaths as well as dead animals everywhere. “I can’t describe it” was all he could say. I got him to the first aid centre, where the nurses called an ambulance for him. He wouldn’t go to hospital though. He was going back up the mountain. There was still too much to do.

I met another guy who seemed to be in good spirits. He was joking with me and asked if I had my cheque book with me. I told him I was a minister and didn’t have any money! He told me he helped erect a cross on one of the churches in my denomination and I joked with him that he had put it on upside down. We shared a few laughs. Then he grabbed my arm tightly and looked into my eyes. He didn’t say a word, but I could see the horror of what he had been through in his face.

A Mum and Dad with two kids the same age as mine (4 and 6) came in to the relief centre. They were fine and lived out of the fire zone. But they came looking for friends who they hadn’t heard from. They found their school teacher and there were many hugs and tears on both sides. Then the Mum asked me, “My sons best friend died in the fire. How do I tell him?”

I came across an older man who was standing on the side of the road sobbing. He was almost the stereotypical Aussie bushman. He had been protecting his home from the fire when we saw two little girls running down the street terrified. He grabbed them and put them in his home and continued to do what he could to protect the house. But the fire was too much and it soon took hold. He desperately tried to find the girls but the heat and spoke drove him back and the girls died as the house burnt around them. Trembling, he repeated over and over again, “I murdered those little girls. I murdered those little girls…”

I’ve seen some awful things in my journey, but nothing compares to this. The stories just kept coming. From the man who saw his neighbour running down the street burning alive, to the bloke who had lost his wife and kids, to the reporters that couldn’t cope with the emotion of it all. Every so often I would retreat to a quite space and call my wife to tell her I love her and to tell my boys I would be home soon.

I’ve also seen some amazing examples of the strength of human spirit and the power of community in my time, but again, nothing like this. The number of people volunteering their time and resources, walking together with the victims and sharing in their grief, was simply staggering. The politicians were there. As were the celebrities and sports stars. So were the counsellors and volunteers to help sort through the mountains of donations. But there were no titles on this day. We were all human beings united by a tragedy, equal in the face of suffering and walking the path of recovery together.

And I remain in awe of the work of the CFA and SES volunteers who are STILL up there fighting the beast, even though they’ve lost everything themselves.

I’ll be back there in the coming days to do what I can, little as it may be. But I do want to bring you a message from a lady who managed to survive the fire with her home intact. She had been up in Kinglake since Saturday as well, and needed to come down to get some food and supplies from the relief centre. when I saw her, she was weeping. She said to me, “I’ve been up there all these days and hadn’t seen or heard from anybody. I didn’t think anybody cared. I didn’t know the roads had been blocked and you couldn’t get up to us. Now I’m here I can see that everybody cares so deeply. I don’t know what to say. Please pass on my thanks if you can.”

That’s why I’m posting this.

To say thank you for caring and praying and giving and loving.

On behalf of those that haven’t yet got the voice to say it for themselves.

I know it’s been ages since I wrote anything here - I should get back into the discipline of it, but life has been a bit full lately.

Since the last post I have completed my third Around the Bay in a Day and been ordained as a Baptist Minister by my denomination. Having the title ‘Reverend’ is slightly strange still…I think it always will be too.

Anyway, in a moment of procrastination, I stumbled upon this post. I think you’ll agree that we’re quite a diverse bunch!

Welcome to any readers that are visiting after hearing my interview on ABC Western Queensland this morning. Feel free to browse around and ask any questions you like!

If you’re interested in finding out more about cartooning and becoming a cartoonist, visit my other blog at www.chewingpencils.com

One for next months K! magazine…

My back surgery recovery is going well. So well in fact that I was able to complete the 65km ride on the new Eastlink tollway on Sunday morning (yeah - wagged church to do it).

The above pic appeared in Mondays Age newspaper. If you look carefuilly, you can see me in the top right hand corner. I’m the one with the helmet and bike…;)

It was a great morning with a great atmosphere surrounding the place. Over 40 000 riders made even this huge road seem a bit squeezy at times.

The next riding goal is to get under that elusive 20 minute mark for the 1:20 climb up to Sassafrass in the Dandenongs, before heading around the Bay again in October.

I’m home!

I went in to theatre at 2pm on Monday for a microdiscectomy and was back in the ward by about 5:30pm. The anaesthetic they gave me was fantastic - I asked three nurses and the neurosurgeon to marry me in the time that I was waking up!

Seriously, the procedure went as well as it could, and when I did come around, I was totally pain free and could feel my left foot again. Quite amazing how instantaneous it was. Of course, when the pain killers wore off, the actual wound where the surgeon ‘went in’ started to sting like crazy, but that’s to be expected.

Anyway, an hour or so after I woke up, I was walking the corridor with my wife. After a great night sleep (it must be the quietest hospital ever!) I was sent home. I slept most of the rest of Tuesday and today have alternated between taking short walks, lying down and sending emails from the lap top perched on top of the ironing board. I’ve got to take it easy for a while yet, but everything is looking great so far.

Thanks again for all your encouraging messages.

Sorry I haven’t got around to posting summaries of my messages from the last few months, but if you’re interested, one of the guys from church has been converting them to podcasts and posting them on the web.

Check out the last few in the Lord’s Prayer series by clicking here.

Enjoy!

Just managed to successfully (I think) upgrade to Wordpress 2.5

I hate doing these things as I’m almost certain that the blog will disappear off the face of the blogosphere as soon as I press enter. Anyway, so far so good.

Computer time has been limited of late because of the back situation. I’m now scheduled for surgery on April 28th and I’m starting to get nervous!

Still, it will be good to have it fixed once and for all.

From October, every time I walk into a room, you will have to bow down in front of me and call me Reverend.

Well, not really, but I will be ordained by the Baptist Union of Victoria as a recognised and accredited minister of the gospel.

It’s staggering who they let in these days!

Seriously, it’s nice to be at the end of that part of my journey - who knows what comes next!

But before then, I have to head off to surgery and get this back of mine fixed once and for all. Everything that can be tried, has been tried, so it’s time for the last resort. Fortunately it’s a short procedure and the recovery, while limiting, is not anywhere near as bad as I was expecting.

2008 is not turning out anything like I had planned - it’s funny how life does that to you.

The Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven, was the core of Jesus teaching. When he was walking around 2000 years ago, many of the stories and parables he told started with the words, “The Kingdom of God is like…”.

So it’s probably no surprise that when Jesus was teaching his disciples to pray, he included the words, “Your Kingdom come.”

On Sunday night we looked at a few elements of the Kingdom of God and what they might mean for us to pray them.

Nowhere does Jesus actually define what he Kingdom of God is. It is clear it is not a geographic place, but instead something more like the rule or reign of God. We could even use words like the ‘impact’ or ‘influence’ of God. But we do get little glimpses of some of the characteristics of what this impact is like. We looked at just four of those on Sunday

The Kingdom of God is forcefully advancing and there’s nothing we can do to stop it (Matt 11:12)

The Kingdom of God is all inclusive, embracing the unclean and the outcast, where everyone is equal (Matt 9:20-22)

The Kingdom of God is counter culture, valuing many things the world does not (Matt 18:1-5)

The Kingdom of God is worth everything we have (Matt 13:44-46)

And most surprisingly, the Kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:20-21)

So for all of these things to become a reality in our world, for God’s Kingdom to have a lasting impact on lives and communities, then it happens through us.

These three words, “Your Kingdom come”, become the most powerful part of the Lord’s prayer because not only do they change us in dramatic ways, but they change the world around us too.

It takes a bold person to pray this prayer. Feeding the hungry is a sign of God’s Kingdom breaking into the world, so if we pray “your Kingdom come” we should expect to be eating with the hungry, giving up our own food if necessary. We should expect to be rubbing shoulders with the homeless, the outcast, the addicted and the different because this is all part of the impact God has through his people.

The worst thing we can possibly do, is pray the prayer and not expect to be part of the answer.