AUSTRALIAN THOUGHTS AT THE WEEKEND 7th November 2009.

AUSTRALIAN THOUGHTS AT THE WEEKEND 7th November 2009.

I heard a radio report recently that Brisbane’s oldest building had received another renovation. This one cost $350,000. You could build a new house for less than that. The old building is a windmill which was built by convicts in 1828.

The windmill is built on a ridge that overlooks the old original settlement of Brisbane which is now the Central Business District. Although it was built on a ridge to catch the wind to drive the mill to grind corn and wheat, it was converted to a treadmill because of the uncertainty of the wind.

There is some suggestion that incorrect engineering was the problem with the sails but the treadmill provided a ready punishment for convicts. Since it ceased being used as a grain mill, it has been used as the first home of the Queensland Museum in 1862, a signal station and lookout from the middle of the 19th century, the site for radio and television broadcasting trials between the 1920s and 1940s and a weather observatory. The large copper ball on the mast at the top was raised and dropped at 1300 daily as a time signal – which continued until 1930.
(http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Australia_and_Oceania/Australia/State_of_Queensland/Brisbane-1878979/Things_To_Do-Brisbane-The_old_Windmill-BR-1.html )

This was a windmill that for most of its life was a mill but not wind driven. Most of Australia’s windmills are wind driven but are not mills. The wind sails drive a pump to pump water for use on rural properties.

Sometime ago someone told me that Australian windmills have two types. The ones with three legs go clockwise and the ones with four legs go anti-clockwise. It was interesting information and on my next trip to the bush (rural area), I began to look at the many windmills to see if the information was right.

In country areas of Australia since the late 1800’s windmills have become a common sight in the country. They are not like the Dutch windmills we often picture but are open steel frames like a huge tripod and as I said some have four legs to help make them more stable. The huge fans are turned by the wind and they have a vane like a great paddle out the back so they turn to face into the wind. The wind power then drives pumps to pump water from dams, or from natural underground supplies to water stock animals, to irrigate crops and for household use.

Well, I have looked at hundreds of windmills now as I have driven past. I have seen some that turn anti-clockwise. The anti-clockwise ones have all had four legs. However, I have come to the conclusion that most four legged windmills turn clockwise. Now I have one problem. How do I stop looking at windmills to see which way they turn? (And now how will you stop doing it?).

A smart man came to Jesus. I don’t know whether Jesus could see he had been looking at too many windmills but Jesus said to him “the wind blows and you hear it. Really though, you don’t know where it is coming from and to where it is going”. That’s a simple earthly thing. Jesus continued “If you don’t understand that then how can you understand spiritual things?”

Jesus was showing him that we struggle to understand things of the natural life and we may be obsessed with learning or knowing about them. The message Jesus had for Him was clear that if he wished to understand spiritual things he needed to be born not only of water (natural birth) but be born again spiritually, of the Spirit. He needed to refocus his learning and his understanding by turning his life over to God, and become dependent as a baby on God.

You can't stop rain from falling down,
Prevent the sun from shining,
You can't stop spring from coming in,
Or winter from resigning,
Or still the waves or stay the winds,
Or keep the day from dawning,
You can't stop God from loving you,
His love is new each morning.

You can't stop ice from being cold,
You can't stop fire from burning.
Or hold the tide that's going out,
Delay its sure returning,
Or halt the progress of the years,
The flight of fame or fashion,
You can't stop God from loving you,
His nature is compassion.

You can't stop God from loving you
Though you may disobey him,
You can't stop God from loving you,
However you betray him;
From love like this no power on earth
The human heart can sever,
You can't stop God from loving you,
Not God--not now, nor ever.
Authors: John Gowans
The Salvation Army Song Book: Song Number: 854

John 3 (The Message)

1 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews.
2 Late one night he visited Jesus and said, "Rabbi, we all know you're a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren't in on it."
3 Jesus said, "You're absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it's not possible to see what I'm pointing to--to God's kingdom."
4 "How can anyone," said Nicodemus, "be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this "born-from-above' talk?"
5 Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation--the "wind hovering over the water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life--it's not possible to enter God's kingdom.
6 When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch--the Spirit--and becomes a living spirit.
7 "So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be "born from above'--out of this world, so to speak.
8 You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone "born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God."
9 Nicodemus asked, "What do you mean by this? How does this happen?"
10 Jesus said, "You're a respected teacher of Israel and you don't know these basics? 11 Listen carefully. I'm speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing second hand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions.
12 If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don't believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can't see, the things of God?
13 "No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man.
14 In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—15 and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.
16 "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.
17 God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. 18 Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

For more information about Australian Windmills:

http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/21004/20020904/au.geocities.com/ozwindmills/

http://users.mcmedia.com.au/~rca/windmill/promo/windmills.htm

http://www.wn.com.au/caladenia/ManuInt.html

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