Going for Gold
After a ‘nervous’ semi-final run, Australian flag-bearer Jessica Fox only qualified for the K-1 women’s slalom finals in eighth place. I imagined the final instruction of Jessica Fox’s coach (her mother) before the final. Did the coach say, “Be strong”? In a breathtaking performance, Jessica delivered a staggering 96.08 run to claim her first gold […]
Satanic Powers
It’s a bit of a rude shock for we hyper-secular Westerners having a phrase like “satanic powers” thrown at us. We train our minds to assume that spiritual powers aren’t real – evil or otherwise! This is a narrow-minded bias of the last 200 years of Western culture. It was not held by Western civilization […]
Good Father is Watching You
If Big Brother were watching us, we’d have plenty to worry about (I mean the real “Big Brother” from George Orwell’s “1984”, not the one on Channel 7!). Imagine having to carefully check every syllable coming out of our mouths to make sure it didn’t contradict the ruling class’ opinion! The Bible does say that God our […]
New People
Chameleons are amazing creatures that can adapt their colour to their background and become indistinguishable from it. Christian teacher, Richard Coekin makes the point, “Christians are not chameleons”! And Paul says, “you must no longer live as the unbelievers do” (Ephesians 4:17). In Ephesians 4:17-24, Paul calls us to be very different from the unbelieving […]
Grow Up
We have a three-year-old grandson. He is starting to assert his autonomy, mostly with his dad and mum, but also to a lesser extent with his grandpa and grandma. His mum did the same at his age, but she has become quite a reasonable human being, able to get along well with people. She has grown […]
Common Sense, or Mystery?
We like common sense. It tells us that if we do A,B&C, then we get X,Y&Z as a result. Like, for Christians, if we do the 10 commandments, or, for Moslems, if we obey the Koran, or for 21st century Australians, if we do what society thinks successful, then we will get rewarded (i.e., get good things form God, or from life). […]
The Divided, United
Every day our TV screens and news feeds make if painfully clear that the members of the human race are in conflict with one another. Ethical thinking for the whole of history has assumed that human beings are in conflict, and that our chief problem is how to get them unified, living harmoniously together. The […]
Grand Mothers
[2Tm 1:1-7] Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus…. To Timothy, my dear son…. Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord…. I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I […]
Know Him
Ephesians 1:15–19. It is remarkable that in all of his writings, Paul’s prayers for his friends contain no appeals for changes in their circumstances…. They faced persecution, death from disease, oppression by powerful forces, and separation from loved ones…. Yet in these prayers you see not one petition for a better emperor, for protection from […]
Whose Are You?
In our society today the big question we are posed is “who are you?” That is, we are pressed to “make a statement, project an image, tell or show us what is important about you”. This is what everybody spends a huge amount of their time trying to do on social media, much to their […]