Driving along one day to my next destination I heard these words over the radio:  I am strong when I am on your shoulders, you raise me up to more than I can be. Immediately I began to think of the many times my wife or I have taken one of our children or grandchildren and put them on our shoulders, carried them on our backs, or in our arms. They might have become weary from a walk, or...

As the pages of a new year are turned on the calendar lots of people resolve to do something in the year ahead.   Many make the resolution to loose some weight.   The holiday season has packed on a few extra kilos and so people turn up at the gym and begin a routine of working out.   For others it might be to get out of debt.   Or attend church more often.  ...

Not too long ago I marked 33 years since I entered the ordained ministry. One of the things I did was to write one of my professors from my years at Calvin Theological Seminary. I just wanted to thank him for inspiring me so many years ago with a passion for the gospel and ministry in the church. Another one of my teachers at that time, Richard De Ridder, a missionary for many years, had charged...

The church has always been and is still only one generation from extinction!    This sobering reality is hitting home to many churches across Australia and in many other places in the world, including the churches that I serve in the CRCA.   In another 30 years these church buildings will close their doors, become restaurants, businesses, or mosques.  Why?   There simply won’t be anymore people!    But this has always been the reality!   Once upon a time the...

Sometimes it is good to look in the rear view mirror to see the way forward!  It was the ancient Greek historian Thucydides who said that his history was important to "those who desire an exact knowledge of the past as a key to the future, which in all probability will repeat or resemble the past."  Lately I have been reading history books.   A CRCA pastor got me on to Peter Fitzsimons and he is quickly...