Winning the Marathon
Every year at Wesley International Congregation, Thank You Lord Sunday is a special event. On that occasion, a special offering is collected as an expression of our thanks to God for his goodness and love towards us. When I first accepted the position of Senior Pastor, the total given was in the vicinity of $30 […]
When Are We Going to Finish?
My wife and I had just concluded a successful Marriage Joy seminar in a church on the Gold Coast in Queensland where, as the tourist brochures remind us, the weather is beautiful one day and perfect the next. I was the invited speaker at the Sunday morning service of the host church, a young and […]
Getting my Feet Wet
Many years ago, at a Christian camp site in the Adelaide Hills, I was chairing a meeting of a couple of hundred Pentecostal pastors from various denominations. In a rash moment, I announced, ‘I want to suggest that we do something different tonight as an expression of our unity in Christ. When the service is […]
The Weapons of Our Warfare
Let me tell you about my mate John. John is a bit of an eccentric. He has a Ph D from Cambridge, four kids, a long beard and a depilated crown, which he protects from the elements with a tweed cap. One of his favourite tricks is to pull his whiskers up over his face […]
The Things You See in Church
Usually, when I am preaching, I am well prepared, I have clear notes, I know what I am doing and I am generally in command of the situation. But there was one occasion when I nearly did lose my way. I was speaking one Sunday morning in Bethel CRC Church in Papua New Guinea. I […]
Pickles Takes a Pill
Have you ever tried to feed pills to a cat? Probably not. It isn’t easy. We used to have a beautiful, white, fluffy cat called Pickles. How she came to have such an unusual name, I can’t remember. I’m sure it was a family decision, but my daughter tells me forty years later that it […]
Behind Berlin’s Wall of Shame
The distance from tyranny to freedom may not be far – but when you are on the other side, it is further than the longest journey in the world. Fresh from the clear, unchanging, sunny days of Israel, I was caught unprepared by the cold, misty weather that wrapped itself around Berlin. My light-weight acrylic […]
I Am a Lucky Girl
Vanessa and I were walking through the Scott Market in Yangon on a hot summer morning, where the temperature was climbing to an estimated 40o Celsius. It had taken us a while to get there. For several days we had promised ourselves a visit to the renowned shopping haven, but had usually opted for the […]
The Case of the Stolen Opals
The jangling sound of the phone rattled through my head, jarring my slumbering nerves. I opened my eyes reluctantly. It was dark. And cold. I stumbled out of bed to answer it. ‘Are you a minister?’ asked a young man’s voice. ‘Yes,’ I replied groggily. ‘I have a problem.’ I looked at the clock. It […]
The Great Hall of Gloom
THE GREAT HALL OF GLOOM. A fable… His Royal Lowness, Lord Everett Flyblown, sat restlessly in the Great Hall of Gloom, with its huge sable pillars and inky forecourt. In the thick, black darkness, he was almost invisible. Ima Slimebag stood uncertainly before him, barefoot on the frigid tiles. The gloom surrounded him like a […]