Blog Post #5

Hello friends and family,

Another weeks has past in Australia, here is what it entailed...

The week really doesn't consist of much exciting stuff, but a lot of things that I really enjoy... Honestly it's really laid back here, not just people as a whole but also for me... I wake up at a decent time most days, so I can read and pray before I get going on with my day... After I eat and do some stuff on my computer I head out the door to the gym to shoot and lift or sometimes to run some errands... So i do that most of the week until Friday when we play or travel like we did this week...

Every night I seem to have stuff going on... Monday nights, my host mom, Jane Weir, cooks a huge dinner for anyone that wants to come... this week I invited my friend and brother Bobby, who is playing for another team in the league, and we were able to talk about our time here and share about life here and sharpen each other in the Lord...
Tuesday nights, we have practice and it's also cheap movie night, so Luke and I often try to hit up a movie after practice... got to watch the new Alice in Wonderland, which brought me back to my childhood, haha...
Wednesday nights, I often go to a small group Bible study with some people my age from Lakeside... The past couple weeks as a group we have been going through the book of Philippians...
Thursday evenings, we have later practice because before practice we have team time... during team time right now we are going getting to know everyone better by going over a list of questions about the person's life and expectations for the season, just basic stuff like that... if we have a weekend home game then we have to set up for it after practice...

That pretty much sums up my week and evenings...

This Friday we left for our game up in Geraldton on Saturday night... which is nearly a 4-5 hr drive north of Perth... it was great to get up there a day early so we could get over the long drive and most of all it was a great opportunity to get to know the guys a lot better and bond as a team...

The game of one of the most fun games I had played in years... bold statement but it was a special night for us as a team... we had to battle the whole night and we flat out played our tails off... we were down 21-22 at the end of the first and down by 6 at half time, 47-53...
so we really had our work cut out for us in the 2nd half... and in the 3rd, we down by as much as 12, then cut it back to 4 and then they pushed it back out to 10 but we fought back and were up one at the end of the 3rd, 76-75...
the 4th quarter we continued what we started in the 3rd and pushed and fought our way to a victory... winning 106-97...
Just something special for me to be around a group of guys that were down but didn't shut it down and fought our way back into it and played hard the whole time, which is how we got back into the game, we really turned up the defense and climbed back into it... I have been on so many teams that have been down and just didn't give it all to win, but the guys on this team are different, they play hard and fight the whole time, we might not make the shots we need to win, but we will play hard the whole time... love that about this team, something special about a group that doesn't quit, especially when it looks bleak...
I ended with 28 points and 11 rebounds...

right after the game we left and made the long trip back to Perth, wasn't as fun as the trip up there, since it was dark... on the way up there I was able to see a lot of the Aussie countryside... it's just so different than anything I have ever seen, so much land that is undeveloped and unsettled... we drove for 4-5 hrs and went thru 1-2 towns that weren't really towns, mostly just a gas station... the land was a combination of cattle, sheep, wheat, bush(undeveloped land), vineyards, and ok a lot of nothingness, haha... still loved it, love being and seeing new places...

Just got one thing I want to leave you, this week I did some studying on the word Shalom... In English we translate that peace, but in Hebrew it means so much more than that... the word Shalom has more of the meaning and idea of wholeness, perfection, togetherness, harmonization, complete, perfect... to put it this way our God is the God of peace, called that often in the Bible equals, the sum of perfection, praise be His holy name...

In Isaiah 9:6- For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The One, the Messiah, the Savior, will come from a virgin, everyone knows the Christmas story, right? but often forget the story of what we are celebrating on this coming weekend, the Easter story... the peace that comes through Jesus...

the Prince of Peace, Jesus, came to earth from His throne in Heaven, on a mission to save sinners from their sin... let me put it this way, sin leads to death, we all sin so death is coming for all of us, it's part of life we all have to go through, death is the enemy...

but in Jesus there is no death, He didn't commit any sin, so when He was on the cross on Black Friday some 2000 years ago and died, it didn't work, because He was sinless, so 3 days later He comes back to life and defeats all the dark powers, Satan, sin, and death... Hope you are still following me... because I am going to make a point that involves peace...

so what does this have to do with Shalom, that peace, perfection, wholeness, completion I was talking about...

since Jesus gave Himself for us and did what He came to do, live the perfect life and die on the cross and rise from deeath on the 3rd day, the Gospel(good news), we have peace with the Father, the penalty of death caused by sin has been taking away... we can have a relationship with God, because of the cross of Christ, there is peace(shalom) between us and God, we are restored, we are reconciled back to God, we are made perfect in Christ, we are made complete in Jesus, where before we were enemies, we are now welcomed into His family, and the thing that kills me is it's nothing that I did, nothing, Jesus did it all!!!

In summary Shalom is a very important word, not only to Jews but it should be to us, because it points us to Jesus, the one who game us Shalom with God, assured eternity with Him... and it's because of this truth that I and many others live differently, I do and don't do things becasue I have different desires and passions and all that stems from what Jesus did for me...

love you all, Shalom
Ben