Actually, I should say Hello readers because I am sure that the only people who get to see this blog arrived here by accident, especially since my main website garthclarkson.com went down and I haven't posted on this blog for over 3 years.
Anyway, if you are here then I bid you welcome. If you are new then maybe have a look through the old posts. I am sure that if you are a pastor or leader within the body of Christ then you will find some food for thought and/or inspiration if you look hard enough. If you are acquainted with me then I hope to begin to blog again soon so don't forget to come check it out again later. For those who are still with me, I will give a little rundown as to what has been happening in my life in the last 3 years.
About 3 years ago I left Brisbane, Queensland (Australia) where I usually live to go visit my wife and children in South Australia for Christmas. While I was there I assisted my wife in developing a laser skirmish arena and developed the tech from the ground up. I had a ball. I was like a pig in mud. I learned microcontrollers and Arduino IDE and worked with Atmel, STM32 and ESP8266 (before there was English documentation and Arduino compatibility) to build guns and suits and had it all connected via WiFi to a server based game system. This enabled us to change from free for all to teams and back as well as game modes like team deathmatch and we were also in the process of developing other modes like domination, hardpoint and regicide. It was awesome. Unfortunately, we did this in a town of 20,000 people and it was unable to sustain itself. Was fun while it lasted.
I returned to Brisbane about 19 months ago with poor health. I had so much fun with the laser tag that I borrowed on my health and future. It was still worth it though as it was a great time of bonding with my two youngest kids.
I have been involved with a few wonderful churches since I returned and they have been very helpful for my recovery with their love and support. I send a special shout out to the awesome Pastor Brad Power and the top line team from Forever House at Coopers Plains, the amazing Peter and Lindsay Earle and my old friends (especially Richard Oddie) from Networx church in Springwood and my new church family at God's Kingdom House at Woodridge with Pastors Danny and Sarah Pelasio and the great, love filled team and congregation there. I should also mention the wonderful, vision filled mob at Tent of Hope with Pastors Lee and Peta Taberner and their faith-filled supporters. Without them all I would be truly struggling.
About September last year, I was diagnosed with Diabetes and also suffered from an Atrial Flutter which was finally fixed via Cardioversion medical procedure in February. The flutter returned September this year. A bit over 3 weeks ago I had yet another heart attack. I went into QEII hospital where they looked after me really, really well. I made a quick recovery and they sent me for an Angiogram where it was discovered that my arteries are no more cactus than they were 5 years ago which is really good news. The bad news is that they couldn't be any more cactus than they are now, which explains the good news. Oh well, God is good and I am still alive and doing better than I could possibly expect.
I started this blog and my YouTube channel due to thinking I didn't have long to go before meeting Jesus face to face and should record the little bits of revelation that I feel are worth sharing before I kick off.
Through all of this, I still feel better than I did back then. I am probably not actually any better but this feeling better is a bit of a problem as the sense of urgency has gone away and I have stopped producing content by expressing those things which I feel can contribute positively to the Body of Christ. In this light, I intend to discipline myself and start video recording and blogging again. Those who know me well might laugh and say "good luck with that, hahaha" and they would not be unjustified but if you care then pray that the Holy Spirit quickens my mortal body (and clears my heart and mind) so that I can focus on what He wants and make at least some of my life count for something in His economy.
Cheers,
Garth Clarkson.
P.S. I would especially like to thank my dear friend, comrade, paduan and confidante Pastor Stephen Polson (and his beautiful and wonderfully prophetic wife Pastor Dawn Polson) for their undying support and friendship that has gone above and beyond the call of duty for the last nearly 4 years since we reconnected.
