My original Bible

February 2, 2024

This year I have decided to go back to my original Bible. It was a hard cover Good New Bible. I must say that when I say my original Bible, I do not mean my first Bible, but my main first one that I used most.

I remember I got it on holiday when I was visiting my sister in Queensland. We went to her local Christian store and I looked for about half an hour until I made my choice.

We then went back her house and we put the Bible tabs on it. It seemed like it took hours to do, but it was probably not that long. It did not matter anyway as we talked a lot.

I chose a Good News Bible as it was very simple and plain English. I was not a big reader so it was perfect for me. I probably used it for the first five years of being a Christian.

It is funny how when I picked it up again recently it felt so familiar. It felt good in my hands and the pages opened nicely to my favourite passages. In many ways it feels like meeting an old friend again.

Over the years I have used a variety of translations. I started with the Good News, went to the New International Version at Bible college, then changed to New Living Translation for my devotions. I found I had so many verses memorised in the NIV that I was not reading the text deeply enough.

So why the change back to the GNB? I guess just for a change. It is nice to switch things up every now and then to give you a fresh perspective. It is very similar to the NLT, but different enough to make me read closely.

If you are interested here is some information about the translation style from their website…

“The Good News Translation (GNT), formerly called the Good News Bible or Today’s English Version, was first published as a full Bible in 1976 by the American Bible Society as a “common language” Bible. It is a clear and simple modern translation that is faithful to the original Hebrew, Koine Greek, and Aramaic texts.

This Bible uses simple everyday language and vocabulary shared by everyone regardless of age or background. The “dynamic equivalence” in translation communicates the meaning and style of the original in a unique way.”

Hear God’s voice

January 30, 2024

One of devotions I do regularly is The Word for Today. Todays one was about hearing God’s voice. I thought I would share it…

Hear God’s voice

‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says.’ Revelation 2:11 NKJV

You can read the same Scripture on different occasions, and it will speak to you in totally different ways. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is attributed with saying, ‘You never step into the same river twice.’ And you never read the same Bible verse the same way twice. That is a testament to its heavenly author. And His illumination is based on His intimate and unlimited knowledge of your circumstances, your desires, your fears, your past, your personality, and your destiny. But you must take time to listen and cultivate your sensitivity to what He is saying. The story is told of a music trainer hired to work with opera singers who could not hit certain notes even though they fell within their vocal range. It was a musical mystery. The trainer did extensive testing on their vocal cords, but he couldn’t find any reason why they couldn’t hit those notes. Then, on a whim, he tested their hearing. And what he discovered was that these opera singers could not sing a note they could not hear. The problem wasn’t singing. The problem was hearing. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says.’ (Revelation 2:11 NKJV) Until you hear the voice of God, you won’t be able to sing His song. Why? Because you’re out of tune. That’s how we get trapped in sinful lifestyles and negative cycles and destructive patterns. But when you open up the Bible and truly hear the voice of God – His loving voice, His affirming voice, His graceful voice, His convicting voice, His authoritative voice, His powerful voice – your life begins to harmonise with the Holy Spirit.

Book I want to read

January 27, 2024

What books do you want to read?

I have to admit I was never a great reader at school. Getting me to read was like pulling teeth for my teachers. I loved sport and maths, but reading was not my thing.

After leaving school this continued until my early twenties. All of a sudden though, I had a desire to read the Bible. I did not have one so I went to the local church and purchased one.

After getting a Bible of my own I found I actually loved reading for the first time in my life. It was nothing to read for an hour of more. Looking back I now know this was God drawing me to His Word and enabling me to do it.

Many years later the Bible is still my go to book. I very rarely read other books as I prefer to listen to them while I am travelling. But I can always just sit down and read my Bible. I can pick it up any time of the day or night and just read.

I just love the fact that the Bible has 40 different authors, it is made up of 66 books, was written over a 1600 year time period, but it has one central theme – God’s love and saving message for mankind. He loves us all and He wants us to be in relationship with Him.

This is why I love the Bible so much. It tells us how we got here, who we are, that God loves us and He has a plan for our lives. For me there is no other book that compares or even comes close to it.

So which book do I want to read? It is the Bible for me by a long long way.

Good leadership?

January 19, 2024

What makes a good leader?

Leadership is something that is vitally important in all areas of life. We have all had good leaders that we loved and bad leaders who we did not love as much.

When I was at Bible college I had to do an assignment on what we thought was good leadership. We had to come up with five points with both Biblical ideas and reflections on Christian leadership sources.

Surprisingly I found this harder than I expected. There is so many examples of Biblical leadership and thousands of resources on Christian leadership.

In the end I distilled my idea of principles of Christian leadership to the following five points.

1. Christian leaders need to cultivate an intimate relationship with God

2. Christian leaders need to have a servant heart

3. Christian leaders need to be shepherds of God’s people

4. Christian leaders need to live with character and integrity

5. Christian leaders need to be committed to making disciples

For me personally I really thought long and hard about these five things. Thankfully my lecturer agreed and gave me a good mark for it.

If you are interested you can read an online version of my article on my website below. It is a cut down version of my assignment.

Five Principles of Christian Leadership

Felt loved?

January 17, 2024

Can you share a positive example of where you’ve felt loved?

I have to say in answering this question that I am a very blessed man. I feel loved by my wife every day and when I see my adult children they always give me a big hug and tell me they love me.

But one instance when I felt really loved recently was on the last day of school in 2023. I was walking around school doing my usual work as a Chaplain, when I large group of students came and gave me cards. I got lots of high fives and fist bumps from them all too.

On the cards were really nice messages of how they loved and appreciated my work as their Chaplain. They said things like thanks for always being there to listen and encourage us. One card from the oldest students was signed by all of them with personal messages.

I really love my job as a school Chaplain and times like that make me feel loved and appreciated too.