Marching Forth!

When I was a kid, I saw the Disney movie "The Ugly Dachshund" starring Dean Jones.  It was a modern adaptation of "The Ugly Duckling," the classic fable written by Hans Christian Anderson.  The Disney tale is about a Great Dane raised among Dachshunds who believed he was a Dachshund, despite the obvious differences!  It isn't until "Brutus" saw another Great Dane at a dog show that it made sense:  he had been a Great Dane among Dachshunds, but living and thinking as a Dachshund.  Instead of crawling along the ground, he stood tall and impressed the judges - and hopefully that female Great Dane too! My dad told me a similar story about my sister and brother-in-law who keep egg-laying hens.  After my family and I left for Australia, they acquired a duck.  The duck was kept in the chicken's hutch.  Because I have two young nieces and a nephew, the chickens and the duck are pets that receive much love and attention - as only determined young childre...

Few things make as large an impact as simple generosity.  Being generous makes others feel welcome and loved.  It is both personal and practical.  The beautiful thing about giving is you need not be a king to have the generous heart of one.  God was more pleased with the two mites of the poor widow than the surplus gold of the wealthy.  All the money and precious resources of the earth are already Gods:  He loves to see a heart lay hold of His giving heart.  2 Corinthians 9:7 reminds us of God's perspective:  He loves a cheerful giver.  Givers consider the needs of others more important than bolstering their own reserves.  Because Christians find their provision and security in God and not in things of this world, our giving ought to emulate the giving of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Last night I read a great example of giving in 2 Samuel which describes the aftermath of David numbering the children of Israel.  A grievous plague br...

In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis, one of the antagonists was a churlish boy named Eustace.  He was cynical, spoiled, and a thankless snob.  After finding himself with his cousins in Narnia aboard the Dawn Treader, Eustace was introduced to a world of adventure, talking animals, and Aslan.  When they came to a certain island, Eustace left the others and slipped an enchanted bracelet onto his arm.  While he slept, he magically turned into a great dragon.  The novelty of being a hulking beast was short-lived.  He felt very sorry for himself:  he was unable to communicate and the bracelet bit painfully deep into his foreleg.  As a beast, however, Eustace began to change.  He became an asset and friend rather than a self-absorbed loner. The final turning point for Eustace is when he was met by the great lion, Aslan.  The lion led dragon-Eustace to an inviting bubbling pool and told him before he could enter he must first u...

A pastor recently recommended I read The Minister As Shepherd by Charles Jefferson.  I thoroughly enjoyed the book, a collection of lectures delivered in 1912.  Jefferson lamented the fact that pastors were falling short of their calling as shepherds.  He defines the shepherd's work in chapter 2 as consisting of seven parts:  acting as a watchman, guard, guide, physician, rescuer, feeding and loving the sheep.  Instead of a distant, unapproachable master, the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ was a humble, gracious, loving leader.  As a pastor, I am glad to be reminded that in all things, even the pursuit of my calling, I am to emulate Jesus Christ. Although many things have changed since 1912, much remains the same.  What people perceive as pastoral work has been reduced to teaching Bible studies and supplying leadership of a body of believers.  Charles Jefferson rightly deduces that many pastors and the laity alike see pastoral visitation and direct...

" The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want ." Psalm 23:1 How profound is this simple truth!  This immortal psalm was penned by King David, a man who knew God as a sheep knows his shepherd.  A good shepherd is faithful to meet all the needs of the sheep in his flock.  Because God was David's shepherd, he lacked no good thing.  That is not to say David's life was easy.  For many years David was homeless and in hiding, fleeing from the wrath of King Saul.  Yet whether David found himself in a cave or a palace, the Word of God remained true. It is common for us to use the word "want" in relation to our desire.  That is not the meaning of the Hebrew word used here.  The Strong's Talking Greek and Hebrew Dictionary defines "haser" as " to lack ; by implication to fail, want, lessen ; be abated, bereave, decrease ."  David is saying, "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not lack.  I shall not fail.  I shall not be abated or bereave...

No one can receive God's love without being dynamically changed by it.  Instead of focusing upon self, love turns its gaze towards God and others.  There is compassion and grace where there was once only selfish preoccupation.  Love makes our hearts grow in breadth and depth.  Knowledge paves the way to feelings of incredible persistence.  God's love is so profound, tangible, and real.  A person who tastes of this love sees it is good, and nothing in or of this world can compare. God's love seek release through acts of service and salvation.  No one filled with the Holy Spirit and His divine love can read shocking statistics of how many children and adults are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation and remain unmoved.  The world has sown to the flesh through sexual sin and is reaping a bumper crop of deception, oppression, pain, ruin, disease, horror, addictions, and death people don't even want to think about.  But love won't lo...

Last night I came home from a week at Camp Kedron, a wonderful Christian camp on the edge of a national reserve.  I was part of a team hosting a holiday camp for years 7 through 10.  Even with the rain it was a massive success:  kids had an awesome time, the Gospel was shared and discussed, and Jesus Christ received the glory.  As I drove up Mona Vale road, the sunset was breathtaking:  rays of light peered through plumes of clouds, lining the edge with a glistening ribbon of white.  Two vertical pillars were illuminated with a swath of orange and blue as fog swirled like a fragile membrane between them.  "God, how could something be so beautiful?" I asked.  "I have done greater than this in the hearts of many this week," was His response.  And God's right - nothing is a beautiful as the transforming, redeeming work He does within the soul of a person by His grace. As the camp speaker for six days at an Australian holiday camp, it was a fre...

This week I said a final goodbye to a good friend, Trevor "Ross" Tooke.  As I looked at him as he lay peacefully in a casket before his funeral, I didn't need words.  I smiled through teary eyes.  After battling brain cancer for many years, he was finally a man who embraced eternal rest with His Saviour Jesus Christ.  Ross will always be an amazing man. I had the great privilege of getting to know Ross when I accepted he and Joan's offer of hospitality.  I had accepted the offer of pastoring Calvary Chapel Sydney and needed a place to stay for two months.  During that time I was afforded a special view into the life of a man I love, respect, and admire.  Ross took me on as a project of sorts, happily teaching me the intricacies of Australian pronunciation, lingo, and culture.  While under the wing of Ross you learn a lot of things:  how to clean a pool, how to make a proper cup of tea, handle a BBQ, and to show love through service.  E...

" So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. 4 Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey ." Judges 6:3-4 In the book of Judges, we are told that there was no king in Israel:  everyone did what was right in his own eyes.  God promised to reign over His people, but they rebelled from under His rule.  They sacrificed to idols and forsook God.  Then God delivered them to oppression by the hands of their enemies.  The Israelites toiled in their fields rising early and staying late, but their crops were destroyed by the Midianites.  The people of Midian and Amalek waited until the children of Israel had sown their crops before they would destroy everything.  They left them nothing to eat, even killing their animals.  It was a desperate time....

A misunderstanding which has led to much disillusionment among Christians is the concept of easy victory.  When we look at the example of the Israelites, it is clear that God gave them victory over their enemies when the Promised Land was divided among them.  But it was not a victory without fighting or obedience.  The land was divided by God, but it was the responsibility of the people to obtain the land.  It was hard.  And it was a job they never fully completed, despite the power of God.  It was not the weakness of God which prevented them, but the people themselves.  We can be our greatest hindrance to a deeper walk with Jesus. God gave His people a rich land, a land flowing with milk and honey.  But there were also established strongholds, giants, and fighters with better weapons than the Israelites.  The tribe of Joseph approached Joshua with a question:  "Why don't we have more land allotted to us?"  Joshua's answer was bas...

Over the course of my life, I have had different skin-related issues.  By God's grace I have successfully battled athlete's foot, dandruff, dry patches of skin, and an occasional wart.  Warts can be particularly annoying because they are so durable!  Caused by a virus, warts have the amazing ability to regenerate even after being burned, cut off, or persistently treated.  I have had about five warts over the course of my lifetime, and they have never been cured without an all-out fight.  This is certainly not a glamorous post, but I trust it will do some good. At the moment I am well on my way to ridding myself of a wart on the pad of one of my toes.  Since it wasn't giving me any pain, I ignored it for some time.  It was never that large, but it amazes me how fast skins grew around it for protection.  After many months, I decided the wart was part of my body I no longer wanted and committed myself to dealing with it.  So every other day I ...

Reading is a critical part of the life of every Christian.  I am always concerned when a Christian tells me they are not fond of reading, seeing as God has provided His Word to us in written form!  As followers of Jesus Christ, we ought to be people "of the Book."  That being said, there are many profitable books written that give glory to God.  Books challenge the way we think and are an impetus to growth.  It is important that we read wisely, seeking to find material which lines up with the truth of scripture.  In my experience with Christian bookstores today, only a fraction of the books written fit this criteria.  From the Puritan era probably 90% of books are worth reading, and in the modern era 10% are worth reading.  In the last century there has been a rapid departure from the authority of God's Word. Ever so often I am introduced to a book which makes me wonder, "Where has this book been all my life?"  I am in the middle of Alan Re...