New Year, New Beginnings
The New Year brings new beginnings. As we head into 2026, the heart of Dads4Kids continues to beat strong with fresh energy and new opportunities.
Loud Krazy Love
I remember when my teenage sons first played Korn’s music for me. I found it really disturbing. It just wasn’t my kind of music. I had grown up playing blues, rock and reggae on my guitar. I found the music very dark. The discordant riffs were off-putting as were Jonathan ...
Easter Family Holidays
Henry Youngman, a comedian who was known as 'King of the One Liners' once said, "I was an atheist for a while, but I gave it up, no holy-days." Such a one liner about holy-days sums up the subject of this week's newsletter - Easter Family Holidays. Most of us ...
A Man Called Mick
Counting Crows had a hit in 2002 with Joni Mitchell’s famous song Big Yellow Taxi. Good songs never get old. The line that stands out in the song for me is “all and all it seems to go, but you don’t know what you got till it’s gone”. Such was ...
Christmas – Special Time of The Year
To our children, Christmas is one of those special times of the year. When I was growing up it was the best time of the year and was always a long time coming. New Year was always an anticlimax, despite my Scottish heritage and the importance of Hogmanay in that ...
Religious Freedom: Harassment of Christians is a blind spot for Ruddock
By JENNIFER ORIEL https://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/jennifer-oriel/harassment-of-christians-is-a-blind-spot-for-ruddock/news-story/05a151d60e067228910a442909ff8287 Editors Note: Jennfier Oriel is probably one of Australia most most eloquent and passionate defender of faith, family and freedom. This is a copy of a very good recent article in the Australian Newspaper. The government has proposed a religious discrimination act to protect the right ...
Deadlock on religious freedom is a shambles
EDITORS NOTE: This is a very good analysis reproduced from the Australian of the current attack on religious freedom in the last week of Parliamentary sitting for 2018. Deadlock on religious freedom is a shamblesPaul Kelly Attorney-General Christian Porter during question time. Picture: Kym Smith. 11:00PM December 7, 2018 596 ...
Wild at Heart
Last weekend I attended a three day 'Wild at Heart' Bootcamp with John Eldridge and his team at Stanwell Tops, NSW. I was joined by over 400 other men from all over Australia and all over the world. Men came from USA, England, Canada, Europe and New Zealand. In the ...
The Challenge
We stepped into the gym office where my wife and I work out most mornings between 6AM and 7Am. The young vivacious 22 year old gym instructor was visibly shaken so we asked her what was the matter? She poured out her tale of woe. Mary (not her real name) ...
Scott Morrison speech: I believe in a fair go for all Australians (Pray for Rain)
Scott Morrison speech: I believe in a fair go for all Australians (Pray for Rain) Prime Minister Scott Morrison delivers his Menzies Research address as Simon Birmingham, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, Kelly O'Dwyer and Mathias Cormann look on at the Mirambeena Community Centre in Albury, NSW today. Rachel Baxendale 2:54PM September ...
Heart of Man
Charles Chestnutt said, “The workings of the human heart are the profoundest mystery of the universe. One moment they make us despair of our kind, and the next we see in them the reflection of the divine image”. These words are probably an apt description of the new cinematic story/documentary ...
Crickets Fall From Grace
Australia will never forget Easter 2018. While much of the nation was celebrating the death and resurrection of the most ethical man in all of history, the greater part of Australia was mourning the death of ‘ethics in sport’ with no sign of resurrection in sight. The good news is ...
The Mystery of a Fathers Blessing
“Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me”, is a saying that I recited to the bullies at school when they taunted me and the other kids who were my friends. I am not so sure that is true anymore. Words come from intentions and ...
Heroes & Mentors
The great writer Ernest Hemingway said, “As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary”. I have found that to be true. Age does not diminish the need for heroes, they just become harder to find, but they are still necessary. Our children, ...
My Hidden Secret
I don’t know about your Christmas, but our family had a very enjoyable family gathering. Our whole family gets together immediately before Christmas to allow our family members to meet with their own or extended family on Christmas Day. We started this custom some years ago and it works ...
Star Wars & the Christmas Story
The cinema was packed, but we just had to see ‘The Last Jedi’ for ourselves. We were so fixated we took the last two seats in the front row. The anticipation was building as the text scrolled across the star filled universe. In a galaxy far, far away, a story ...
Make a Stand
“The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children”. These words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), a German academic and Christian minister, still ring true today. One of the reasons his words still live on is because Dietrich stood up for what he believed, and ...
Enemies of Christianity declaring new war on religion
EDITORS NOTE: Andrew Bolt a journalist with the Herald Sun has written an incisive article challenging the church and christian leaders to stand up and be counted or submit to the new Totalitarianism of Anti-christian hate speech, persecution and worse. He points out that if people of faith do not ...
Blessed be the egoistic individuals
Editors Note: This brilliant Article by one of Australia's most highly regarded political journalists Paul Kelly Arguing the Good Effect of Christian Faith & Lamenting its loss appeared in the weekend edition of our Nation’s premier National newspaper on the 8th July 2017. I record it out here for your ...
Faithless Australians May Lose More than Just God
Editors Note: Jennifer Oriel from the Australian has just written a brilliant article on the need for Christian values in Australia and western democracy. Today I spoke to a colleague and we both agree that this article is the most lucid article on the subject we have ever seen. Faithless ...
Journey of Discovery – The Shack
I first heard about a book called 'The Shack' from my good friend Phil Costar. Within a matter of weeks two people had told me that I just had to read 'The Shack'. It was something I resisted for a while. You see, I do a lot of reading but ...
The Anzacs and the True Spirit of Fatherhood
We celebrate Anzac Day on the 25 April to celebrate and honour the sacrifice of those who have fought for our country and those who still do. But what has this got to do with being a father in the 21st century? Well I believe Anzac Day and in particular ...
Fighting McKenzie, the Anzac Spirit, and Australian Values
Australia has produced some amazing war heroes but none so remarkable, or popular, as Fighting McKenzie from World War 1. Daniel Reynaud, author of the book ‘The Man the Anzacs Revered’ asked, “How did a wowser become an Anzac legend? And how did this legend become totally unknown today?” William ...
Dads, Criminals, Easter and Australian Values
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and believe it or not, Easter celebrates a man who died a criminal’s death and became the foundation for what are commonly called ‘Australian Values’. When I was a young boy, visiting my grandmother in Edinburgh, Scotland, she used to tease me by saying, “You and ...
Criminals, Easter and Australian Values
Believe it or not, Easter celebrates a man who died a criminal’s death and became the foundation for what are commonly called ‘Australian Values’. When I was a young boy, visiting my grandmother in Edinburgh, Scotland, she used to tease me by saying, “You and your family are descended from ...
