Marching Forth!

Old news came across my Facebook feed the other day about how Pope Francis boldly declared support for evolution saying, “ When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so ,”  I believe the Bible provides evidence God is far greater than a magician using sleight of hand who seems able to do everything - without waving a "magic" wand.  That fact God can do everything is the precise conclusion Job came to when God revealed Himself in  Job 42:1-2:  " Then Job answered the LORD and said: 2 "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You ."  A god who cannot do everything is not God, and certainly not worthy of worship. The words of the Pope do not affect my beliefs in the slightest, but unfortunately much of the world sees him as speaking for the church with a degree of authority.  My entire life has been lived in a ...

Being an immigrant opens a new world to explore and enjoy.  There are countless adjustments to life after moving to a new country.  Australia is a culture permeated with sport, and it didn't take long after moving to Australia to notice the popular sports are quite different to those I was familiar.  Instead of growing up playing baseball, kids play cricket or compete in "Little Athletics" (track and field events).  I have never seen gridiron (American football) played in a park, but I have seen plenty of rugby.  Australian football (footy) bears no resemblance to any football I knew previously, and netball seems to be more popular than basketball. There is great personal enrichment available for all who will humbly lay aside what is familiar and be open to new things.  I remember hearing a message from Alan Redpath who hailed from Britain when he spoke of the "raw material" Abraham was made of, this flesh which " needed knocking in and knocking about ....

A great challenge in our Christian walk is working through painful trials.  A couple of useful books on the subject is The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis and Where is God When it Hurts ? by Philip Yancey.  We labour hard to reduce and eliminate it when we can, but pain isn't a bad thing when viewed through a biblical perspective.  Pain is a useful sensation (excruciating as it can be at times) to notify us of physical damage and prevents us from wounding ourselves further.  It is not fun to be robbed of sleep or rest due to pain, yet we can still find solace in Christ as our rest.  Our bodies heal much better and faster than wounded hearts and minds.  There is no prescription a doctor can supply to heal a broken heart, and what is impossible with men is possible with God.  The only time physical pain truly is a thing of the past is when a Christian enters into eternal glory. Last Saturday I sprained my ankle playing baseball, and I did a quality job...

The tendency to self-reliance is common to all people.  No matter how dependent we are on others or our environment, we retain the freedom of preference to suit ourselves.  It is a jarring realisation when we accept the fact we are powerlessness to change a situation.  We value the right to choose, and when that is "taken" from us we can resent it bitterly. This morning I read of Isaac and Rebekah who for about twenty years of marriage were without children.  They wanted to have children but Rebekah was barren.  There were no fertility clinics back in those days.  But the God who created man and woman was able to heal such an irreversible condition as infertility.   Genesis 25:21 says, " Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived ."  It occurred to me Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all had wives who were for a time barren but the LORD remembered them and gave th...