Ever listened to the way we speak? Ever thought about our conversations and how we phrase things? Have you ever considered what would happen if we turned some of our sentences around? “I really like Sam. She’s such a giving person and friendly, but…” And then we hear what we really think about her: “But she’s… Continue reading Applying the ‘holy but’
Public schooling may appear much less costly than Christian schooling (or homeschooling) but is it? Can our children be used to “witness and influence” in an unbelieving school culture? Sharon Bratcher in Reformed Perspective writes about the “need to renew our dedication to Christ-centered, Christ-honoring education”. She quotes Pastor Voddie Baucham, at a Ligonier Conference,… Continue reading We don’t want costly schooling!
How do you know? How can you be sure? Let’s be honest, most parents don’t know, and most are not sure. They like to think they are, but deep down, there’s this nagging doubt: is my child safe within the ICT world? You can’t stop it, nor turn the tide. Most of us don’t want… Continue reading How do you know? How can you be sure?
This story is nearly 80 years old. And has been retold many times, and worth telling again: In August of 1949, fifteen men parachuted into a mountainous area of Montana to put out a growing fire. Within minutes, the fire exploded out of control, spreading at 660 feet per minute and threatening to consume the… Continue reading Take action or run?
Today we find ourselves midterm, and with the Labour Day holiday on Monday it might be a good idea to STOP and take stock of how the year is going. Stop: we live in a fast-paced world and find ourselves moving from one thing to the next. There is always the next thing on our… Continue reading STOP and take stock
There’s something that is hard to understand. It happens frequently in a school setting, often more than not. It’s actually something that doesn’t happen, if that makes sense. It’s got to do with relationships between students and their groupings. It’s about students reaching out to others who are not in their group. Why is it so difficult… Continue reading Student friendships and groupings
One of the best ways a school can work with its year theme, is to apply the same in practice. To keep sound wisdom is then a tall order for the teaching staff who are at the front line to demonstrate what that is to our students. And it remains a tall order for us… Continue reading Application of wisdom
“… keep sound wisdom and discernment.” (Proverbs 3:21b) The opening assembly focused on the above text which challenged both students and teachers to reflect on the critical question, How do we keep sound wisdom? In contrast to being smart and clever, Scripture strongly exhorts us to get wisdom, to chase after it, to hold it, to… Continue reading Keep sound wisdom
Did you get a university offer this week? Universities in Australia are sending out their offers to new students this week. For Western Australia, first round offers were released yesterday. Many students will receive an offer, hopefully their first preference, but many other students won’t. Why? For some it could be because their ATAR score… Continue reading Did you get a university offer?
Everyone is special… everyone wears an invisible crown. This is a message on the front of a Christmas card which came through the mail. With the celebration of Christmas, we focus on the beginning of the earthly stage of the journey of the Son of Man, as He proceeded through the cross to receive the… Continue reading Everyone wears an invisible crown
Don’t you love the way the Lord gives us different pictures so you and I can relate to Him? The Lord holds us close to His heart. We immediately build a picture of what that means. We think of a special relationship, someone who is really close to us. Something like a parent-child relationship. We… Continue reading Holding us close to His heart
God’s faithfulness in the rebuilding of the temple: You can hear the ridicule, feel the scorn and sense the embarrassment! “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifice? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heap of rubbish- stones that are burned? Whatever… Continue reading Building the school: a day of small beginnings
“People don’t drift towards holiness. They drift towards compromise and call it tolerance, and drift towards disobedience and call it freedom” Maybe the events of this week are a reflection of the above. Australia has been drifting for a long time, and this became quite clear when God visited via a plebiscite. The unholy dancing… Continue reading Drifting away from holiness
I received an email this week, which I’m permitted to share: I’m going to tell you why I send my children to this school. It’s not because I had such a wonderful experience here as a student. I didn’t. I wasn’t understood. I had family issues that I couldn’t talk about. No one reached out… Continue reading Why I send my children to this school
Your new neighbour moved in last week. Yesterday you had a ‘welcome chat’ over the fence; seems like a reasonable sort of family, not Christian but well-meaning all the same. The kids seemed polite, and the mum was really interested in the local scene; shops, parks, schools… You re-run a section of the conversation in… Continue reading Talking to your neighbour about school
Something I read this week: For you to experience God’s sufficiency in crisis, you must be learning to experience it each day. If you aren’t learning to depend on Him as your refuge, to draw on Him as your resource, and to defer to Him as your Ruler when things are going smoothly, you won’t… Continue reading Reformation 500!
One evening an old man told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two “wolves” inside us all. One is dark or evil, it is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other… Continue reading Battle between two wolves inside us all
Isn’t Facebook about keeping families, friends and acquaintances in touch with each other no matter where they are in the world? That may be what appears to be the goal, and many social networks would like us to believe that. However, there is a more sinister side to social networks and that involves using human… Continue reading The conflict between social networks and parents
Rejoicing, recounting, remembering, reflecting! What an evening it was! The convention centre in Perth was packed with 2300 voices praising God in song and words! I don’t think I ever heard that many voices at once singing in unison from the psalms and hymns: Come thank the LORD, his goodness praising (Psalm 118), O LORD… Continue reading Celebrating 60 years of reformed education
When have I finished learning? Has a graduating student finished learning when they graduate from high school? Have we completed our learning of the Heidelberg Catechism when we do our Profession of Faith? Or is it after we’ve graduated from college or university that we are finally finished learning? At this time of year, many… Continue reading Lifelong learning – the role of learning in our lives
