River hope

Jan van Eyck, "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb," c. 1390-1441 In the early chapters of the Book of Genesis, there are four rivers. Two are unknown to us today; the others are the Tigris and the Euphrates, flowing through present-day Iraq.  At the end of the Bibleโ€™s narrative arc, there is also a river. John …

River dependence

Where did you learn to swim? For me it was an indoor swimming pool out the back of Westfield Figtree in Wollongong.ย We lived near the beach, and we spent some school holidays with cousins at Beecroft who had a pool in their back yard,ย but mastering freestyle, backstroke, and later butterfly in an environment where I …

Discovering my gifts and serving others

When my eldest son Michael was about four years old, he graduated from watching me mow the lawn to actively helping out. Donning over-sized protective wear โ€“ gumboots, gardening gloves, and a full adult face shield with earmuffs โ€“ he bravely ventured out onto the lawn at Blakehurst to โ€œhelpโ€ me with the mowing. The lawn …