au
A captivating dream

A captivating dream

In November last year I did the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge. This is a 160km cycle round Lake Taupo in New Zealand. This was, by far, the longest cycle I have ever done. And I did it on my mountain bike! .

  • What is the answer to Australia's sporting troubles?

    They call it the darkest day in Australian sport: Fresh on the heels of the Lance Armstrong drugs admission Australian sport has been red-carded by the Australian Crime Commission and police agencies. It is alleged that our sports have been corrupted by gambling, doping and organized crime.

  • Handing over the reigns and risking everything

    In horsemanship we use the word 'yield' to describe the process of a horse changing their heart and submitting to the leadership of their handler. Once yielded there are several signs that they will show such as licking their lips, snorting with a big exhale, relaxing and lowering their head or even just turning their ear onto their handler.

  • Success, who wants it?

    Success. The very word is wrought with glamour. It speaks of riches untold, great discoveries made and milestones reached. It is attached to those who have 'made it' in life; the high achievers, exceptional performers and the elite of this world. So when I ask my question, 'success, who wants it?' it really should be a rhetorical question, because I don't think anyone will ever answer it.

  • Tony Campolo and Mary Albert Darling: The God of intimacy and action

    The Pastor\'s Pastor the Reverend Dr Rowland Croucher has reviewed Tony Campolo and Mary Albert Darling book: The God of Intimacy and Action: Reconnecting Ancient Spiritual Practices, Evangelism, and Justice (John Wiley & Sons), 2007.

  • The Journey to Manhood

    My theme for this initial section is initiation. We guys are born male, but we have to learn to be a man. Boys can only become men by the instruction and leadership of other men.

  • Cross-cultural intelligence

    It's inevitable. Anyone who travel or live overseas experience culture shock. Can you think of a situation where you misunderstood people in another culture? What about within Australia or New Zealand? Few of us need to be convinced that we are living in a multicultural world. Today's increasingly global and diverse contexts call for cultural intelligence (CQ).

  • A New Year. A New You?

    If you made one as I did, you're about a month in to your New Year's resolution. And like many people - ahem, me included - you've probably slipped up a time or two...or twenty!

  • Standing our ground

    How many times has this happened to you? You sit down to watch a TV show and suddenly an advert comes on that is completely inappropriate and it takes you by surprise and you actually feel that you feel violated in some way. You immediately thank God that your kids weren't in the room to see it either.

  • The art of judging others

    When I became a new parent I received many surprises. I imagined when Miss L was first placed on my chest I would be overcome with all-consuming love and awe. I wasn't. There were no tears of jubilation. I actually felt like laughing at her. Indeed post-natal hormones were surprising. There was my astonishment at the amount of output a Miss L could produce. I swear more came out than went in.

  • Tense

    I've been thinking about tenses in this new year. It's interesting how much of our lives are affected by things that go before and after us. So much of our lived day-to-day is remembering or planning. It's easy to forget that the moments we remember in the past or the ideas we have for the future are also themselves affected by the past and present either side of them. The present seems to be like a child struggling for independence against the binding forces of yesterday and tomorrow.

  • AKB48 Minami Minegishi's head shaving penance: how do we react to shame?

    Japanese AKB48 pop idol Minami Minegishi was photographed leaving the apartment of a Japanese boy band member. The photo showed Minami with a surgical mask and cap on, leaving this apartment. She had just been caught breaking the bands' cardinal rule – no dating.