Bruce Staley

Some time ago I planted a flowering gum. I had purchased two but one died in the pot before I was able to replant it. The onset of hot weather, at the start of the Australian summer, was too much for the replanted tree and the leaves instead of a healthy green turned brown. Seemingly it had died too. I was disappointed. I'm not sure whether it was my disappointment but I delayed pulling it out. One day I had the task of pulling it out on my list of gardening jobs. I collected the fork from the shed, stepped on the garden bed where I had planted the tree and was about to drive the fork into the ground at the root of the tree when, thankfully, I noticed tiny new buds appearing on the branches of the tree. I was pleasantly surprised. The tree had obviously taken root and, although the leaves had turned brown, it was alive. It had survived. I never cease to be amazed by the resurrection story. Christ seemingly dead was alive! Similarly, I am thrilled when the new life of God breaks thr...

My name is Philip. During a recent conversation with my mentor Bruce I emphatically stated I was having a ball. If you knew a little of my history life had been anything other than a ball. What has changed? Earlier in 2014 I decided to contact a former teacher. While it took nearly twenty minutes I was determined and I persevered until I finally contact Bruce. We became re-acquainted. It proved to be the first of many phone calls and text messages since. I wanted to thank Bruce for calling me a Christian, over 40 years ago. Bruce was a teacher at the school I attended and a fellow student had encouraged me to speak to him. Bruce welcomed our conversations and counted it a privilege to explain to me how I could get close to God and become a follower of Jesus. During one conversation in a local cafe I responded and received Jesus as my personal Saviour. Then Bruce declared that I was now a Christian thus confirming the transaction that had taken place between me and God. Over the phone m...

During my time consulting with people in management I rarely came across a management book that mentioned forgiveness. However, I did stumble across Paul Hanna's book, You Can Do It! More than likely I was browsing in bookstore at the time. Paul left Qantas Airways in 1988 to start his own management consultancy and by the late 90's was regarded as one of Australia's leading motivational speakers. In chapter nine, Forgive - and Heal Your Life , Paul covered the following topics, The person with the higher self-esteem apologises first, When you apologise, you discard your anger and make room for happiness, Regrouping after divorce, Dis-ease and unease toward others, Forgiveness and how it heals us all, Forgiving your parents for being human and When you blame someone, you give them power over you. Quite a list to cover in one chapter however, Paul does it well prompting the reader to consider the act of forgiveness more deeply. Dale Carnegie in his all-time classic, How to ...