Berni Dymet

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The Science of Making Excuses and Being Fat

All my life (until recently) I’ve struggled with my weight. It seems that all I have to do to gain a kilogram is to inhale deeply whilst walking past a fish ‘n chips shop. (That is until about 8 weeks ago).

A few weeks back now the 60 Minutes program in Australia ran a segment which heralded the discovery of the fat gene. Their conclusion? There’s nothing you can do about it – just enjoy being fat.

So – I need your help. Can I ask you to watch the video of their segment linked in this post and tell me, does it represent …

(a) bad journalism,
(b) bad science,
(c) all of the above, or
(d) none of the above?

Three Tips to Give Your Tweets More Traction

Twitter is an awesome tool. It’s quick. It’s dynamic. It’s fun. It’s informative. It suits our busy lifestyles and short attention spans. It gives us a platform to share our thoughts and enter into other people’s worlds at the same time.

And everyone’s different. In effect the sum of a tweeter’s tweets represents his or her brand and personality to the marketplace. Cool.

But Twitter can also become very cluttered very quickly and when it does, it’s the cream that rises to the top. Sadly, many a tweeter’s tweets get lost in the crowd, in which case – what’s the point?

So here are 3 tips to give your Tweets more traction …

Back from the Brink of Suicide

I think that sometimes we’re prone to trivialising the Word of God. By that I mean, we don’t take it seriously enough.

We skim over it and yet somehow we fail to take it heart. We don’t really grasp that it’s meant for us, for our lives. We completely miss the fact that God’s Word is filled with the power – His power – to radically transform our lives.

So … here’s a story to remind us of the awesome power of God’s Word.

In the week leading up to Easter, I received an email from a woman in Europe (let’s call her ‘Margaret’) who was literally at the point of taking her own life, when a Christianityworks radio progam started to go to air on her local radio station.

This is what she wrote to me (her name and some minor details have been changed to preserve her anonymity):

Are You On a Media Junk Food Diet?

Let’s face it. We construct much of our reality through what we see, hear and read in the media.

And these days the media is filled to overflowing with reality this and reality that. Reality TV shows have become de rigueur on the Box at night in many a household. Together with news bulletins that play more like infomercials than news. Followed by current affairs shows that are so blatantly infomercials, that it’s hard to tell where the program ends and the ads begin.

So when it comes to the media, you have to ask yourself, what is reality?

Or as Pontius Pilate put it all those years ago, what is truth?

It’s this profound and sometimes sinister unreality of the media that we so readily consume, that struck me the other day when I was in a TV recording studio …

Lest We Forget

It can only be described as bizarre.

Most other nations celebrate their great military victories. Yet Australia and New Zealand, each year on the 25th of April, commemorate one of their greatest military debacles and defeats.

Ninety seven years ago, our lads landed on the wrong peninsula in an assault on Turkey. By mistake. Instead of a flat, undefended landing spot that they’d planned on, they landed at the foot of heavily fortified cliffs. And what ensued … was a massacre, as the fires of hell rained down on them.

Why is it that our two nations choose this day as the one to remember?

How a Gideon Bible Literally Saved My Life

It’s early Saturday morning as I peck away here at my keyboard. I’m about to head off to the NSW State Conference of the Gideon’s to share my testimony with the delegates. It’s something that I just am so delighted to do … because back in February 1995, it was a Gideon Bible that God used to save my life.

Quite literally.

I was standing on the 8th floor balcony of a Brisbane hotel, wondering whether to jump, and …

Three Simple Steps to Reinvigorate a Relationship

Let’s face it, sometimes relationships get a bit tired. And like an old kitchen that’s perhaps seen it’s day, it’s time to refresh, renovate, reinvigorate that tired relationship.

Perhaps it’s a marriage. Maybe it’s a difficult colleague at work. Maybe it’s one of our kids … or our parents. Perhaps there’s tension – even open conflict. That’s all really sad, because relationships are important aren’t they?

And yet often we find ourselves in a relationship rut – that same old, same old, same old … What can we do to reinvigorate that run down relationship?

Well – here are three simple steps. They’ll work with anybody who matters to you. Try them, and I guarantee that they’ll put some spark back into that important relationship.

Are you ready?