My story

Tim Challies has pointed out that many bloggers have never published the story of their Christian journey. I'm one of them, and am putting this right immediately.

I was born into a Christian family, which is surely almost the greatest blessing a person can have. Even tops being born an Aussie.

My marine engineer father was a methodical man who read the bible every day, and who also daily filled in a diary for the last 30 years of his life. In 1951, at the age of 42 he was travelling by ship to South India to see his sister Trixie, who was a nurse with The Leprosy Mission. He soon met the 34 year old Beatrice Walker, who was returning to Kalimpong, West Bengal for her 4th term working as a house mother in Dr Graham's Homes. Nine days later they were engaged. They married in India, but returned to Australia, where I was born less than a year after their marriage.

In answer to my question Why do we have Christmas?, my mother told me about Jesus coming into the world for our salvation, and by God's grace, on Christmas Day, 1957 I was born again. Raised in a Baptist Church, I was baptised by immersion on 13th February, 1966.

As a child, I embraced the teaching I received about God and His Word, but as I grew older I continued to study God's Word for myself, and eventually came to appreciate the bible's teachings about God's sovereignty, predestination and perseverance.

In 1973, I married a wonderful young fellow student at Newcastle Conservatorium of Music called Joan Sims, whom I had led to Christ. We have been married for 33 years now, and have 4 children and one grandchild, with another to be born at the end of this month.

God has been gracious to us and has enabled me to study his Word at Kenmore Christian College [a Churches of Christ college in Queensland] and pastor a church for a couple of years, though my main occupation has been as a music teacher, both in the crowd control variety [class teaching] and in teaching private piano students. [Guess which one I prefer?]

In recent years, we have enjoyed serving Christ in a small independent evangelical church in Bathurst, 3 hours west of Sydney. I have also come to enjoy New Covenant Theology, which I believe to be a more biblical, and Baptist version of Reformed theology.

One of the greatest joys I've experienced in serving Christ in Bathurst Evangelical Church has been discovering through Ron, a fellow elder, the blessings of reading the whole of God's Word through quickly, and also memorising portions of it, which inevitably means reading it slowly and thoughtfully.

Honouring your father

My father's birthday is 28th February. I think of him a lot, but especially on that day. I have been blessed by reading John Piper's loving words at his father's funeral. He had a father worth honouring!
In the link at Desiring God, there is also a great tribute Piper preached on his father's 80th birthday.

I hope reading these articles encourages you, as it has encouraged me, and I hope you will honour your father, and tell him you love him, if you are fortunate enough to still have him. My dad died in 1995, so I can thank God, but not dad himself.

If your father is highly flawed, is there anything good you could say about him? Is there anything you could thank God for? You don't have to lie about his faults, to express gratitude for his good points.