Unspeakable Pain, Unimaginable Pleasure
“Suddenly…,” laments Paul McCartney in his song Yesterday, “I’m not half the man I used to be.” This is not only The Beatles’ most popular ballad, but it has been repeatedly […]
Oh for a Haircut!
Today is day 50 of the lockdown in NSW with no end in sight. Coincidentally I am preparing a series of sermons on the book of Judges and at the […]
Men and Women Together
Men and women working together. It’s been God’s good order since the beginning. Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them […]
Today’s Quick Word: August 5th
Psalm 4:2 How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods? Selah My copy of Tim & Kathy Keller’s […]
The Model
How refreshing to watch Ashleigh Barty’s demeanour and sportsmanship on display at this year’s Wimbledon Tennis Championship. Ash’s speech commending her opponent, thanking her team and the crowd, exuded down […]
Raising Spiritually Resilient Kids
As parents who know the goodness of God, what part can we play to help our children grow in faith, and turn from the many deceptions and temptations they will surely encounter? […]
Who is the Child?
Throughout the history of mankind, the natural progression of life has been birth, ultimately followed by death at some point in time. During these trying times it might be worth looking […]
Changing Scenes of Life
Ecclesiastes 3 sets out a poetic and memorable reminder that life has its seasons, and there is a time for everything – to be born and to die, to plant […]
Today’s Quick Word: July 27
Judges 10:1-6a After the time of Abimelech a man of Issachar, Tola son of Puah, the son of Dodo, rose to save Israel. He lived in Shamir, in the hill country […]
Is “Purity Culture” a Problem in the Australian Church?
There’s a memorable scene in C.S. Lewis’ novel, The Great Divorce, where this ghostly person shrinks back from entering heaven due to the interference of a small red lizard on their shoulder. […]
Thomas Clarkson: A Man Willing to Change
Moving a dinner plan forward, changing your coffee order, swapping shirts just before you rush out the door – we change our minds all the time. But what drives us […]
Reflections on growing up in a Presbyterian manse
Having been asked to reflect on growing up in a Presbyterian manse, I need to acknowledge my lack of qualification. It’s true that my father was and is a Presbyterian […]
Today’s Quick Word: 28 April 2021
Come out, you daughters of Zion, and look at King Solomon wearing the crown, the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, the day […]
Wrong Paradigm, Wrong Diagnosis, Wrong Solution
Our response to the world needs to embrace more than lament, but a deep malaise has descended upon contemporary Western society. There is a hardness of heart, but a softness […]
Like a Flower in the Wind -The Life of Charlotte Bronte
‘There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when […]
What Is Certain
The common saying is that only death and taxes are certain; everything else is up for grabs. Actually, there is some doubt about taxes. Jonathan Riley-Smith says that it was […]