Author Archive
Thank you Mum
I remember the day as if it was yesterday. It was my first day in high school (Year 7 for international readers) and my whole world was changing. In primary school, you reach the top of the food chain in Year 6 only to start again at the bottom in high school. At the end [...]
The Hollow Tree
A few weeks ago I stood under a large 16 metre gum tree with an arborist and local council officer. I couldn’t fault anything with the tree… but then again, I don’t known anything about trees. The two professionals were so alarmed by the tree that they created an exclusion zone around the tree and [...]
Hands up if you don’t read your Bible…
I love reading. I read (on average) one to two books per month and almost every day I read a bucket load of news and opinion across the internet. My most recent book was Lou Gerstner’s Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance and I am currently reading In the Plex by Stephen Levy. On the theological [...]
Ministers & Science
Our church participated in our monthly bush regeneration project with the local community yesterday. While sitting in the mulch I was thinking about ministers and science. Ministers need to be professional curious about scientific issues. Ministers are usually able to be conversant on a wide range of issues. Furthermore, most people value what [...]
Things we could take for granted….
The March 26 election in New South Wales would emphatically suggest that voters are looking for a new direction in the state government. The Coalition has been elected with a significant majority and the Labor government has suffered the greatest loss of seats in Australian politics. As we look forward to a new government after [...]
God & His Word
I’ve appreciated Jason’s ongoing series on the King James Version and I marvel at how the ensuing discussion alternates between a fight between kung-fu masters and schoolboys in a fight. I would like to posit the following as my contribution to this series: Almost five hundred years ago, a boat set sail from the Continent [...]
Courage & Faith
I saw a touching portrait of personal courage and faith over the weekend. In their HSC (12) Year, a student is facing a protracted stay in hospital after a similar stay in hospital in the previous year. The first thing that struck me was their personal courage. Thinking back to my own Year 12 experience [...]
Well that’s just your opinion….
Last week I was at the airport waiting for my flight when I received a phone call. The call was from the airport gate informing me that I was about to miss my plane. I was relaxing at the time and my first response was incredulity – “No I am not about to miss my plane!” Then it [...]
Visitors in Church
We’ve been doing a study on encouragement by Mattias Media over the past few months in men’s Bible study. One study has a role-play between a regular church attender and a first time visitor. Here are some of things that were identified in the study: Don’t let “busyness” stop you from being genuine. I’m sure [...]
The Christian Logjam
Thanks to Jason and the rest of the Infocus team for giving me the opportunity to write over the next twelve weeks. I’m excited about sharing what I have been reading and reflecting on with particular attention to the purpose of the blog – “Our purpose is to develop the Australian blogosphere, to cultivate serious [...]
Book Review: The Well-Educated Mind
Last week, I wrote that we should spend more time learning “how to think.” This book helps you to learn “how to think.” So for the curious or the busy – here’s a book review. Susan Wise Bauer’s The Well-Educated Mind: The Guide to Classical Education You Never Had argues that reading the right kind [...]
Knowledge Nation
My apologies for not posting this morning or last week. I’ve been thinking a lot about canonicity and Christian education in the past two weeks – here’s a side discussion off of what I’ve been reading about. Futurist magazines in the 1950s promised us flying cars and space travel as a commodity. Sixty years later [...]
