8richardlane

8richardlane

Dallas Willard wisdom

“failure to attain a deeply satisfying life always has the effect of making sinful actions seem good. Here lies the strength of temptation…Normally our success in overcoming temptation will be easier if we are basically happy in our lives. To…

Luke on God and Money

“Luke writes about wealth as if dollar bills should come with an alert, “WARNING: Money may erode your character, endanger your safety, and impair your eternal destiny.” Riches are like swimming in an ocean with a big weight around your…

929 and Isaiah 53

In June this year, I attended a seminar presentation about the Scriptures hosted by the Council of Christians and Jews NSW. The venue was a hall of the Great Synagogue, Elizabeth Street, Sydney. Two presentations were given. The first by…

A woman’s wit

I read Bishop Hall’s reflection on 2 Samuel 17, verses 15-20, and I was struck first by his vivid description of the woman’s action, and second by the archaic word ‘bewray’ (meaning betray): “Jonathan and Ahimaaz are sent, descried, pursued,…

Bishop Hall and Terra Australis

I’ve made another surprising discovery about Joseph Hall, the Bishop of Exeter (see previous post). Back in the early 1600s, he is busy writing about Australia…or, at least, Terra Australis as it was known. It turns out that he wrote…

Bishop Hall

In my previous post, CH Spurgeon referred to one ‘Bishop Hall’. I had not heard of Joseph Hall who lived from 1574 to 1656. He was the Bishop of Exeter in the 1630s. The church historian, Thomas Fuller, said he…

A Widow’s Snippets

‘For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.’ (Ecclesiastes 1:18). Ann Dawson was a faithful parishioner at our church for many years. I took her funeral back in 2018. Every now and then she would…