Bruce Staley

Have you taken the plunge with simply the bungee rope saving you from certain death as you dropped from the launch platform? Bungee jumping is a popular adventure activity and while I haven't taken the plunge I can imagine the experience is exhilarating. The whole experience of being baptised is also exhilarating and while initially there may be anxiety, even fear if you are afraid of water, baptism is an important step in the faith journey. In the sacrament of baptism we identify ourselves with the death and resurrection of our Saviour and God performs a miracle. The Apostle Paul in Romans 6;3-5 describes it this way, " ...don't you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in death like his, we will certainly also be u...

The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:18 states, " For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God ." By his death Jesus paid the price for our sin. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). However, the Christian message doesn't end at the cross. There is the resurrection miracle! God not only demonstrated His mighty power in raising Christ from the dead He placed His stamp of approval on the saving work of Christ on the cross. The resurrection confirms the hope we have in Christ. Returning to the disciples on the first Easter morning Mary Magdalene announced, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!" (John 20:2) "So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first....

The message of the cross is foundational to our Christian experience. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:18 states, " For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God ." Rather than the opposite of foolishness, which is wisdom, Paul chooses the term, power of God . The Gospel or Good News is more than good advice, telling us what we need to do, nor is it simply information about God's power, it is God's life-giving power! In Romans 1:16 Paul declares, “ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes .” The gospel is more than head-knowledge; it is the amazing power of God that radically transforms people's lives. A wonderful illustration of the miraculous transforming work of the gospel is the Lake Eyre Basin, which is one of the largest drainage systems on a global scale. The Basin covering an arid and semi-arid part ...

As well as books I have used films as sources of inspiration for my posts. However, the inspiration for this post comes from a personal friend. Family dynamics can prove to be a rich source of material. Robert mentioned a conversation that he had with his younger sister in regard to the family. Robert: And who is your rock? Younger Sister: You are. Robert: And do you know who is my rock? Jesus. Robert has an elderly mother, living on her own in Melbourne, who regularly phones his younger sister to offload her troubles and woes. The younger sister already weighed down with Mum's woes has an older sister who also rings and offloads her burdens. Robert, the older brother, likes to call his younger sister to chat and listen. You know how it is in families. One person among the siblings is seen as the rock. And, on this particular occasion Robert, who is often the final person in the chain of family conversation, chose to declare Jesus as his rock. This was no idle declaration on Robert...

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 ...

Early Morning, Olympic Rings, Lake Wendouree, Ballarat While continuing my thoughts from films allow me to introduce Eric Liddell. Some of you may recall Eric was featured in the award-winning film, Chariots of Fire . While the film focuses on Eric's distinguished athletic career he gave it up at its high point to become a missionary to China. His decision became visible after the 1924 Olympic Games where he refused to run on a Sunday then afterwards winning gold and creating a world record in the 400 metres. Twenty-one years later, at age 43, Eric was nearing the finishing tape in his final race on earth. During his time as a missionary Eric wrote three religious works, two pamphlets and a longer work, A Manual of Christian Discipleship , which circulated in manuscript form in a Japanese internment camp, in his beloved China, where he died of a brain tumour on 21 February 1945. In his longer work, now published under the title, The Disciplines of the Christian Life , Eric explains...

Recently, Ian, one of my nephews, had his fifty-fifth birthday. I can still recall Ian staying a few days with our family when he was a lot younger. Before leaving to go back home he presented us with a lovely piece of pottery he had crafted and inside the vase he had placed small hand-written notes to each member of the family with another note to all the family. The note to me read,  “Spring is at hand the very moment you realise it’s winter.”  It brought a tear to my eye. I recalled that during one of our chats during his stay I had mentioned that I was in the midst of a personal winter. You can see from the photograph we still have the vase, which is now used as a pen holder. As well as the pens the vase still holds the personally-penned notes from Ian. Seasons or ‘wilderness experiences’ are common to the Christian journey. In Song of Solomon 2:11-12 we find, “See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come.” Just a...