The Great Escape

The great escape (Cooks in the river, Hawthorn Hawks reach Preliminary Final, More on Madeline)



Police last night charged 41-year-old Cameron Cook with attempted murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment and other associated offences. It seems he and his wife, 34-year-old Sonia Cook were not getting along well lately. They planned to divorce. But Cook, a policeman in Melbourne, couldn't wait for that kind of separation. He shackled his wife inside their Magna, gagged her and drove them both into the bay at the mouth of the Mordialloc Creek.



The two escaped, although Sonia's was very dramatic. She crawled out with chains around her ankles and swam to safety, finally standing on the Nepean Highway until a car stopped-- a policeman.



Within an hour the police had found her husband, also chained, still in the submerged car. His head was above water.

This was a shocking story and no doubt, will give us more information than we ever wanted about people we otherwise would know little about.



The Australian Football League (AFL) is otherwise titled Aussie Rules Football, or simply footy. And it's time for Footy Finals Fever and it's a great time in Australia to cheer for your side to win. Next week Hawthorn will play the Kangaroos or Geelong (my prediction is Geelong will win it all), but they got through yesterday because of a 20-year-old kicking the final goal with 7 seconds left.



The young Hawks looked out of it last week when the Sydney Swans had them down 92 points to 10 at half time. The last time the Crows played the Hawks, the Hawks were thumped, but this week at Telstra Dome was different. The "Buddy Show" finished off the Crows in the final seconds, with Lance Franklin, the future superstar full forward, kicking his 7th goal at almost full time.



In fact it was Buddy who turned the game around halfway through the 2nd period when Adelaide looked like they would run away with the contest, but Lance hit three straight goals to save the day at that point.



In the continuing saga in Portugal, and the missing girl Madeleine, Mrs McCann, who was the first to be given "arguida" status, has been warned by police that she could be charged with the "accidental" killing of her four-year-old daughter.

Mr McCann was later given the same status in the course of a separate interview with police. He left the headquarters of the Policia Judiciaria (PJ) - Portugal's CID - in the town of Portimao shortly after midnight after more than eight hours of questioning.



Standing next to Mr McCann, the couple's lawyer, Carlos Pinto de Abreu, said: "Kate and Gerry have both been declared arguidos with no bail conditions, and no charges have been brought against them. The investigation continues."



The couple want to return from the Algarve to their home in Rothley, Leicestershire, with their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie.

They hope to fly back on Monday but are worried it may appear they are "running scared", according to Gerry McCann's sister Philomena.



So are they escaping from Portugal? What is the truth about the missing little girl? And what kind of escapes are yet in the hold for the Hawks or for Mrs Cook?



I believe that we all hit situations where we wish to be a Houdini and a great escape artist. We all want the situation we are in to improve and to be clearer and better and kinder and gentler and ... (you get the idea).



And there is a way to get out. There is a way to find safe footing. There is a way to get the best out of life

It's in relation to the Lord Y'shua, the Saviour and Lord of all. He's the one who chose NOT to escape the punishment of sin and chose to die in our place 2000 years ago. He went to the death for us, that we might find eternal life in believing in Him.



What will you do with Y'shua? Will you believe in Him? Today?



Shalom