Some of you who are older will remember the strict observance of the Sunday in the old Orange Free State Province under Apartheid. Apart from the fact that females were by law not permitted to wear a bikini, all Sunday swimming was banned. We planted two Churches in the capital city of Bloemfontein and went […]
One principal of the Bible Institute in South Africa that hailed from Scotland told me that his father, a Presbyterian Clergyman, would wash and dress on the Saturday night for Church on Sunday to prevent “working” on the Sunday. This might have been extreme, yet those who were “old school”, coming through a revival were […]
With the calendar being changed so many times, by so many nations, over so many decades, how do we know when Monday, Tuesday, etc. actually is? Is what we call the first day perhaps the fourth day? How do we know that the second day is on the second day of the week? Perhaps a […]
“Rest” is a peculiar word because it can mean many different things to many different people. I remember as a teenager, rest to us was sleep. Dad always said we slept our lives away. When older, married and a parent, dad would say that we work so hard we need to rest. The “rest” mentioned […]
I come from a home where my dad’s side were dairy farmers. Although milk was their main economic source, they had poultry (ducks and chickens) and pigs that I know of. The horse was to pull the trap cart. They grew their own vegetables and made much of their clothing. They chopped wood for hot […]
As an older child I became aware that there were male and female homosexuals. Mostly it was not spoken about, especially in front of children. In those days, homosexuals seemed to know they were a male or a female who preferred intimate relationships with the same gender. Today there is confusion. Listening to a young, […]
As a teenager, we experienced the “Hippie Age” or better known as the “Love Age” or “Flower Power Children”. Young people abandoned their families, huddled in groups, some having one man and a few women, living in parks or abandoned buildings, not working, shabby clothes, beards, guitars, adorned with flowers in their hair and around […]
If you are older and honest, you will looked at yourself, your mannerisms, your good point and your not-so-good point and compare them to one or both of your parents. At my age I see some of both the good and the not so good things in myself that were manifest in my father. This […]
I often use an illustration of the wife being the cherry on the top of the chocolate cake in a marriage sermon. This arose out of my wife once making a chocolate cake and having only one cherry. She placed it on the center top of the cake, and each one of the children and […]
During the early days of ministry, a senior clergyman taught me how to plan my teaching ministry for a year at a time. Slotted into every quarter was any Christian Holiday like Good Friday, Resurrection Sunday and so on, throughout the year. All sermon series, special days, Bible Studies for the year were planned a […]