One of the one of the best investments we ever made for Elen was a magnetic Etch-a-Sketch pad that we got from Tesco for £2.99. It might not sound particularly impressive on the surface of it, but trust me the hours of pleasure she got from doodling and creating were worth so much more than £2.99! In fairness to Elen she also loved to share her ‘sketchy’ with her parents and would regularly let me have a go on it. The thing is she only ever wanted me to draw one thing – a duck!... continue reading
I run a Sunday School for 3-7 year olds. A privilege and a joy in itself.
But it's occasionally made all the more glorious when a child misunderstands something in a revealing way.
Last Sunday, we were finishing a short series on the book of Jonah. An interesting exercise in itself, because most kids bibles miss the point. They do the running away, the storm and the boat, the fish, Jonah's prayer, the preaching to Nineveh and the repentance bit, but fail to do chapter 4 - which is really the whole punchline of the story.
But the moment came at the start when I was reviewing the story so far... "What was the name of the prophet?" I ask. Lots of hands shoot up. "Jonah!" comes the enthusiastic reply:
"Where did God tell him to go?" Silence. One hand raised tentatively... "Vinegar?"... continue reading
"How did you find you way round the traffic jam?"Paul asked.
I was delivering my daughter to summer camp and I was chatting with the old friend who was running it. We'd been delayed and had to find a route down country lanes to get round the a jam on the M4.
"More by luck than judgement" I replied… and instantly checked myself.
I had found my way more by luck than my own intelligence. Not knowing quite where to go, I took a guess at a crossroads and it turned out to be right. But the phrase reflects a worldview where God is absent. It was just "luck". Whereas the Bible tells us that our sovereign God is intimately involved in our world, and that the providence of God is at work even in what we might think are irrelevant details.... continue reading
It was a day that stands out in my memory above nearly all others and not for a good reason. Elen was around 9 months old and had been suffering with a virus for several days. Her temperature had been gradually creeping higher and higher, until one afternoon it reached crisis point and she started to convulse uncontrollably on the floor. We rang 999 and within minutes a medic was on the scene. Moments later Elen was rushed to hospital in an ambulance.... continue reading
Many of us have mixed feelings about our jobs. And rightly so!
Work is good (Genesis 2:28): We're created to be workers. And doing a job (whether that's paid or unpaid) helps fulfil our purpose, our humanity.
Work is fallen (Genesis 3:17-19): Our jobs are not as they are supposed to be. We live in a work where colleagues hurt one other; good things too easily become idols and our activity - and the activity of those around us - often becomes self-seeking rather than God-honouring. ... continue reading
Elen’s first Christmas passed her by with minimal fuss. By the second time round, however, she had really started to get her head around the whole Christmas thing – loving the bright lights, the cheesey songs and of course – all the presents. Bizzarely, however, it was a small cloth bag stuffed with soft nativity characters that she got most excited by.
It contained shepherds, a sheep, three wise men and some dodgy-looking angels. Mary and Joe were obviously in there too, but it was little baby Jesus who really captured Elen’s imagination the most. She couldn’t get enough of him as she cuddled him, talked to him, danced with him and invited him to join her at every family meal. All she would talk about was “baby Jesus this” and “baby Jesus that.”
It really got me thinking about Jesus in a fresh way...... continue reading
It's Olympic fever here in London.
And yesterday, Lin Qingfeng stormed to Gold in the men's weightlifting (63kg category) . The combined total weight he lifted was a massive 344kg!
But here's a question for you...
How many "One Life - What's it all about?" books weigh 344kg?
A free copy to whoever comes closest. Post your guesses in the comments box below....
When Elen was born she just seemed so perfect. As she started growing up, however, we soon realised that our precious little girl was not the perfect little angel she had first appeared to be.
Far from it…... continue reading
If Elen looked chilled out at 12 weeks, the 20-week scan revealed a baby who was so content as she slouched about in her cosy embryonic armchair that she showed no sign of ever wanting to emerge. As the pregnancy developed, she did not budge an inch, refusing to get into the ‘engaged’ position (“Ready or not, here i come!”), opting instead for the ‘breach’ position (“We shall not, we shall not be moved!”)
Giving birth to a baby in breach is dangerous for both the baby and the mother, so Michelle agreed to give birth by elective caesarean section, meaning that she would go in for a pre-planned operation a week before the baby was due. No breaking waters, no contractions, all a bit surreal really. All of a sudden our answer to the question “when’s the baby due?” was “9am next Tuesday!”... continue reading
One of our readers recently asked: Why wasn’t it sinful for Jesus as a boy to have gone off to the temple and not informed his parents of his whereabouts? It doesn’t seem to be obeying the fifth commandment, to honour your father and mother.
Great question, and a tricky one! It’s important, too, because this is the only episode from Jesus’ childhood we know about (Luke 2 v 41-52), and of course in order to be our perfect sacrifice and our righteousness-giver, Jesus must be sinless. If He is being anything less than perfect here, He’s out of the running to die in our place or give us His relationship with God almost before His human life has begun.
I have been mulling it over and here’s what I’ve come up with: I’d love to know if there are other ways to think about this issue.... continue reading
