kayak – No Guarantees

The Top Ten Ways The Sport Would Be Different If Microsoft Built Kayaks:
10. A particular model year of kayak wouldn’t be available until AFTER that year, instead of before.
9. Every time you wanted to try a new paddle, you would have to buy a new kayak.
8. Occasionally your kayak would stop dead in the water for no apparent cause. No amount of paddling
would budge it. You would have to tow it back to the launch site and restart your kayak. For some
strange reason, you would simply just accept this.
7. Two people could not both paddle your kayak unless you paid extra for a ’95 kayak or NT kayak in
which case you would also have to buy an extra seat and expensive new charts.
6. A sophisticated marketing blitz would make you feel like a second-rate tasteless slacker for failing to
upgrade your kayak. OOPS — wait a minute — that’s ALREADY happening.
5. Sun Microsystem would make a kayak with 70% less hull drag, half the weight, watertight in all
conditions and twice as stable. Unfortunately, it could be used on only 5% of the existing rivers.
4. Your Microsoft kayak’s compass, weather radio, and sump pump would be replaced with a single
“General Kayak Fault” warning light.
3. The enthusiast press would get people excited about the “new” features of Microsoft kayaks, forgetting
completely that they had been available in other brands for years.
2. Microsoft’s inconsiderable owners manual would spawn a whole cottage industry of outsiders who
would write hundreds of books explaining how to paddle your Microsoft kayak. Amazingly, we would
buy all they printed.
1. If you wanted to go kayaking in a group with your club members or friends (known as Network
Kayaking). EVERYONE in the group will have BUY special group kayaking accessories however, only one
member of the group (known as the kaysysop) would have the foggiest notion of exactly what they did
and no one else would be permitted operate them.
Unknown Author

Last week I had the opportunity to exchange my usual 3 days Youth Vision coaching Youth Pastors for 3 days in actual youth ministry. I occasionally take off with Scripture Union (Warriuka Adventure Camping) to lift some of my credibility whilst working with youth pastors. Nothing worse than having no idea what they are talking about when I am coaching!

So off I went with 12 kids from Rosmoyne SHS, 2 staff Paul and Joel (an old Youth Vision Youth Pastor) and Mikey, the other SU worker. We built rafts and paddled for 3 days down the Murray from Pinjarrah. I was in a kayak (still popping anti-inflammatory for my shoulder)! It was idyllic, the kids were on the whole pretty good kids. The weather was incredible, the campsites chosen were straight out of some camping magazine – picture perfect.

On the last night we ran into a couple of guys around a fire on the side of the river, conversations followed, we got on to the subject of marrage and home ownership/joint ownership etc. These guys suggested that I was mad not having finances in my own name and a house of my own. They suggested that this is what Donnald Trump suggests after having 5 fail marriages or the like. Now I don’t know about you, but taking advice from Donald Trump on marriage…hmmm The comment was made by one of the guys, “You just have to put yourself first, you think about number one and then worry about marriage, Donnald Trump says it’s business first then relationship”. Hmmm – I was a bit stunned and reflected back to them that I had been with my girl for 20 years and we were extreemly happy, even more so now than ever, we have joint ownership of everything and I don’t intend to change it, and we are trying something a littole crazy and that is that we put one another’s needs before our own and that we actually deny ourself in many ways so as to serve the other and I that this has worked most of the time and seems to build up a strong marriage…I added that it can actually work outside of marriage in other relationships too.

There was a stunned silence, the 2 Christian guys knew where I was coming from and sat waiting to hear the response…nothing for a long few seconds, then…

“naaaa, too risky, that wouldn’t work, you have just got lucky”

So – maybe I have, Christine is amazing, but still…imagine if everyone actually lived like I have suggested I try to (but fail so often) – putting one another’s needs before our own and actually denying our self in many ways so as to serve the other.

These guys were great fellas and they got in there boat and went off collecting firewood for us (looking for nothing in return – how unselfish of them!)

It was a great few days.