Don’t be afraid
Australians spend $1.6 billion a year on hair care. We want to remove hair from some places and grow it in others, color and repair our hair, straighten and curl our hair, feed, wax, laser, nourish, and cut our hair. (more…)
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God knows everything about you, and still loves you
How much of yourself do you feel you must filter when you’re with others? Of course, “others” isn’t a single category; there are many types of others in our lives, from our social media contacts to our closest friends or family members. Is there someone whom you feel you can truly be yourself with? Someone with whom you can express your vulnerable feelings, talk about your deepest struggles, and share your worst moments? We humans learn from a very early age that sharing our deepest parts, especially those we may not like, can be uncomfortable. That’s what happens when we see a toddler hide or cover their face when they know they’ve done the wrong thing. Experiencing rejection, condemnation, or exploitation after revealing our vulnerable parts is incredibly emotionally painful. (more…)
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Heaven is better than a Taylor Swift concert
If you are a swifty then being in the audience of a Taylor Swift concert is pretty much your definition of heaven.
Being completely immersed in the music you love, singing in unison with thousands upon thousands of others who share your passion, delighting in the choreography and visual display, standing in the presence of your hero — what more could one want? (more…)
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Good news in a world of bad news
They say that the “proportion of headlines denoting anger, fear, disgust, negativity and sadness” grew markedly in the US between 2000 and 2019. News reports always begin with bad news because humans have a “negativity bias”. We tend to pay more attention to negative experiences than positive ones.
I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is something about us and the good news is something about God. (more…)
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Not for washing brains, only hearts
Bible basher and brainwashed are two aspersions often cast upon Christians. This is understandable given the sudden change and single mindedness some new Christians display. (more…)
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Christmas is all about the presence
For my young children the excitement of Christmas really is about the presents. We can harp on about Jesus being the best gift but honestly it’s just background noise to the paper tearing, box opening frenzy. Presents can be held, presents can be seen, presents can make obnoxiously loud noises in your sister’s face until she screams. But what if my materialistic little darlings didn’t have us there on Christmas morning? What if they woke up to all the presents they’ve ever dreamed of but no parents to be found? No doubt they would have a fantastic few hours unwrapping to their hearts’ content. However, I believe eventually our absence would cause some concern. (more…)
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Finding the way to heaven
When we travel, maps and GPS apps guide us to our destination. But how do we find the way to heaven, and how many ways are there?
Understanding heaven
Heaven is where God lives and rules (Appendix A). Jesus taught His followers to pray to “Our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9NLT). Heaven is a spiritual place which we can’t see. It existed before the physical universe began. (more…)
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The way to heaven
Most people want to go to heaven. Do we all go there automatically? How can we know the way to heaven? A map or a GPS App can show us many ways to a destination. How many ways are there to heaven? (more…)
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Customer support open 24/7
What’s your most frustrating customer support story? I remember a time when I got into a menu loop on a call and couldn’t get to a person to talk to. There’s others times I’ve spent hours on hold hoping to get a real person to help me with my problem. With the increase in automation, off shore customer service centers and the use of scripts, it can often feel impossible to get the specific help needed. (more…)
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Love your neighbor as yourself
As a mental health counsellor I have the privilege of joining with people in their deepest struggles. I hear harrowing stories of neglect, abuse, self-loathing, loneliness. At the heart of these varying stories there is a common tragedy: the profoundly painful experience of not being loved. (more…)
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The best terms and conditions you have ever read
Terms and conditions (T&Cs) are inescapable these days. When you sign up for insurance, join a sports group, attend an event, make a purchase, visit a website….almost everything we do comes with a little asterisk indicating pages and pages of fine print.
There are so many T&Cs in our life it would take hours out of our week to read them all before ticking every little box of agreement (the average time it takes to read one T&C is half an hour). So we don’t. A Deloitte survey found that over 90% of consumers do not read the online legal terms they agree to. (more…)
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Give all your anxiety to God
Anxiety. Worry. Concern that something will go wrong. Heart palpitations. Feeling hot. A pit in the stomach. Restlessness. Racing thoughts. Sweaty palms. What does anxiety feel like for you? And what do you do with that experience?
All of us feel anxious at times. When we are not sure we’re safe. When something we want or care about may be in jeopardy. It can help us protect what’s important to us. But there are ways we can respond to anxiety that make it feel worse. We can sometimes get anxious about feeling anxious. We can interpret our worry as something being wrong with us. We may have even heard a “christian” message that anxiety means a lack of faith. (more…)
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Create in me a clean heart
What would you think of a man who used his power to forcibly have sex with a woman? But he didn’t stop there. This woman was married and after finding out she’d become pregnant through his sexual assault he tried to make it look like the baby belonged to her husband. When this failed he once again used his power to arrange the husband to be killed. It’s reprehensible behaviour. Unforgivable, many would say. This is the biblical story behind Psalm 51 – the story of king David. (more…)
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Long live the King!
On May 6th, 2023, an estimated audience of 400 million people witnessed the coronation of King Charles III. This event was significant in the eyes of so many because the ceremony confirmed Charles’ position on the throne and his role as monarch of the United Kingdom and all remaining Commonwealth countries. (more…)
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Where will you respawn?
Despite the way some people may react, death is not that big a problem in a video game. You may lose your loot, position or game but there’s always another life. On the contrary, the Bible says real human death is a once off occasion, life is not repeatable, it’s a one time only offer. And what comes next is crucial.
“People are destined to die once, and after that to face judgement.” Hebrews 9:27 (more…)
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What’s so special about Easter?
Everyday in the world about 190,000 people die. That averages as 8,000 deaths per hour and two deaths every second. In Australia we do a pretty good job at keeping death out of conversation and mind. However there’s no denying it is an inevitable and ordinary part of life. Death isn’t, in a manner of speaking, anything special. So why do we have a public holiday – an extra long weekend with Good Friday and Easter Monday, in remembrance of one man’s death? What has the death of one specific, Jewish man who lived 12,217 kilometres and 2,000 years apart from our lives today got to do with us? (more…)
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Today’s lifesavers
We appreciate, perhaps now more than ever, the sacrificial and life saving service of our doctors and nurses. A survey in 2021 showed that doctors and nurses are the professionals we Australians trust more than any other. Paramedics and surf lifeguards are also held dear in our Australian hearts. How important and comforting it is to know there’s someone there to save us if our life is at risk. In a moment of life and death there is nothing more vital than being rescued and nothing more beautiful than our rescuer’s face. (more…)
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God’s love letter to you
We can not live well without love. It is a universal truth as much as it is a cliche. Love lost, love unrequited, love received – these are the real events that make our lives and mark our memories. Without true love in our lives, whether it be a parent, a child, a lover, a friend, or a pet, we limp along surviving but never thriving. And it is not a coincidence that as the oft- quoted Bible verse declares, “God is love” (1 John 4:16). God is love, and He has created us to exist, to thrive, in His love. (more…)
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God’s ultimate destination for you
What is your ultimate holiday destination? Dream big, imagine you have no limit on your budget or time. Are you a chalet in the Alps, sitting by a wood fire drinking cognac kind of person? A New Zealand extreme sports adventurer? A culture vulture visiting the galleries of Italy? Or would you prefer a tropical island with massages, snorkelling, and endless feasts? There are so many beautiful places and experiences to be had if you have the money and time for them. (more…)
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This Christmas gift didn’t get lost in the mail
It’s particularly upsetting when a Christmas gift gets lost in the post – one that you’ve carefully chosen and wrapped and sent with love to that special someone you can’t be with over Christmas. With Australia Post making over 2 million deliveries a day it’s no wonder some Christmas parcels go missing. Such as the fruitcake that 3 year old Beau baked with his grandma and sent to his great grandparents. That lovingly made fruitcake only had to travel 150 km and should have taken about a week to get to Beau’s great grandparents. But because of an old barcode left on the re-used parcel box, Beau’s fruitcake travelled approximately 7,000 km and took almost two months to arrive. (more…)
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Todays’ weather brought to you by God
Tsunamis, floods, and bush fires are no joke. In 2021 it was estimated by Deloitte that natural disasters cost Australia over $38 billion a year and this will nearly double by 2060. The real cost, however, is more than a financial one, many people and animals lose their homes and even their lives when a major disaster strikes.
So what should we think about the weather? Is God really in control? Most of us are comfortable asking God for good weather for our next sports game or outdoor event – we may even thank God for a perfect sunny day. But when it comes to bad weather, who’s to blame – infamous weather systems like El nina or God? And who can we go to about these disasters? (more…)
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God saved the Queen
“God Save the Queen” has been the anthem of Britain for the last 70 years; the phrase used as an expression of patriotism and royal support. But what did the Queen need saving from? Did she need saving from republicanism, from the decline of the Commonwealth, from foreign invasion, or the collapse of her own family? In her own words, Queen Elizabeth II explained she needed saving from something far more insidious and universal than outside enemies. “Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves—from our recklessness or our greed,” Queen Elizabeth said during her Christmas message in 2011. This remarkable woman, who has since her passing been described as dutiful, faithful, servanthearted, forgiving and stable, recognised that she still needed saving from her own sin. (more…)
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Was Queen Elizabeth II a true Christian?
Queen Elizabeth was the world’s most famous woman. She was depicted in award-winning films such as The Queen and the popular Netflix series The Crown.
One of the prayers at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral service began, “We give thanks to God for Queen Elizabeth’s loyalty to the faith she inherited through her baptism and confirmation, and affirmed at her coronation; for her unswerving devotion to the gospel; and for her steadfast service as Supreme Governor of the Church of England”. But are these indicators of a true Christian? (more…)
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Sin bin Sunday
Yesterday was called “Sin bin Sunday” by the Sydney news media. Seven players were sent to the sin bin (Appendix) in a game for the first time in Australian Rugby League history. (more…)
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