by Tony McKeown – Lessons from the Puriri Tree: Twenty-eight years ago, I planted a native Puriri tree on the boundary of our newly acquired home. It was a spindly little thing, and a lonely offering amidst a barren and uninspiring landscape. I recall sitting by the newly turned soil and wishing it well, as the Read More
I was recently looking through the bookshelf at PK when I came across a book on Heroes of the Faith. I started to thumb through it and noticed many names I knew but also many names I didn’t. As I have mentioned previously, we are moving to a new community about 45 minutes from where Read More
As a family we are in the process of moving from one house to another, interestingly the new one is only two thirds of the size of the house we presently live in. This means we are going through all our possessions and making decisions about what to keep and what to let go of. Read More
I love it when my daily Bible readings reveal things that I may not have considered before. It is as though the scripture is opened up to reveal a new nuance on truth. I was reading Matthew 4 and the last verse in the chapter reads, “Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and Read More
Recently some friends of ours moved from our home town of Snells Beach North of Auckland to Christchurch. We spent nearly a full weekend saying farewell to them at different events. They had been in our lives for 16-years and it was fascinating listening to speeches and hearing different people’s perspectives. One of the events Read More
Last time I shared about attending a family funeral and the things it highlighted to me. Prior to our family member passing away, I’d had discussions with them on matters of belief. We even discussed his spiritual worldview. At those times I found he was not forthcoming in sharing, instead our conversations were brief and Read More
I recently experienced a family bereavement and as always in such times it caused me to consider a few things. There are things to learn from and things to encourage us to review. Whilst processing this loss we needed to work out some practical aspects. While my relative had a Will, it was 30 years Read More
I was recently with members of our church and other friends who gathered to pray for the commissioning of a residential rehab for women meth users in North Rodney. We walked the facility and grounds dedicating it for the Lord’s purposes. It was a great night as our friends started to recount their journey to Read More
I am amazed at how God can use seemingly unrelated situations to get my attention. Bev and I have been starting to think about downsizing our house as we begin to approach “Third Age”. What, when and where will our forever home be? This thinking must come from hanging around with my mate Peter Goulter Read More
We live in an instant age where speed of activity is regarded as essential. As a society we spend a great deal of time trying to improve efficiency. The recent COVID-19 lockdown had slowed down the pace at which we were travelling. I have noticed in the past few weeks the pace is picking up Read More