25th November 2024
It is as though Habakkuk and Christ were, at separate times, reading from the same script. Habakkuk cries out to God, at the beginning of his book, ‘How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do...
24th November 2024
Imagine knowing the end of the story before it unfolds. As we come to the end of our worship calendar for the year, we celebrate the victory that Jesus has already secured for us. His kingdom will...
23rd November 2024
When we talk about friends, those who sat with Job often come to mind. At first, they seemed like good friends – they did take the time to sit with him in his misery, without speaking, offering...
22nd November 2024
For many people the book of Revelation is a puzzle to be solved, a conundrum that is perplexing, or a riddle that is mystifying. John, however, in writing this book intended it to be a blessing to...
21st November 2024
Isaiah wrote these words after an encounter with God, seeing ‘…him high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.’ (Isaiah 6:1). The setting was so...
20th November 2024
From the dawn of creation, the triune God has demonstrated a passionate mission for all humanity created in his image. God fully trusts and empowers us, his body, with this mission — let us truly...
19th November 2024
It is disheartening to have worked on a jigsaw puzzle for days only to find it in a pile on the floor the next morning. We have cats – need I say more. I do not give up though; I just scoop up...
18th November 2024
There is an old folktale about a king who wanted to give his sons the best education possible. So he instructed his wise men to travel widely and gather and compress all the world’s wisdom into a...
17th November 2024
One of the most famous story plots in history is the tale of the underdog. From the oldest story of the slave who turns out to be royalty, to the modern sports movie about the unlikely heroes who...
16th November 2024
One of my favourite movies is The Importance of Being Earnest, based on a play written by Oscar Wilde. The movie has many great lines and one of my favourites comes when the mother of the...
15th November 2024
For most of my life, I have done my work sitting down, usually at a desk. It seems I am not alone. In fact, so many people spend so much of their workday in the sitting position that smart watches...
14th November 2024
Waiting on God when he hasn’t yet answered our prayers is one of the hardest places to be. Our prayers often start out being bold and expectant but as time rolls on, and we find ourselves still...
13th November 2024
One day Jesus turned up at the pool of Bethesda which was a place where crippled people lay waiting because there was a belief that when the waters were moving the first person who entered the water...
12th November 2024
I remember falling backwards over a large cement stone or block in my garden. The pain kept me glued to the ground, and my cries for help did not result in my rescue. I finally managed to get...
11th November 2024
We are back in Nineveh, the chief city of Assyria. They had been warned once, by Jonah, and had avoided destruction because they repented. Nahum’s graphic prophecies, about 140 years later,...
10th November 2024
When I was 18 years old, I met someone who would change my life for the better. Here’s the catch: we couldn’t have been more different as people. John was a white man from Great Britain; I was a...
9th November 2024
We live in a world that is a strange mix of life and death. Both are all around us. Every night when we go to sleep, we experience a kind of death. When we’re asleep, we aren’t in control...
8th November 2024
Many years ago, I tried my hand at songwriting. It was a song about Jesus, with the title, Teleo, a Greek word which means ‘finished’, so named not because it marked the end of my career as a...
7th November 2024
What do you say to someone who has lost a loved one? Often, I am lost for words, and sometimes there are no words that are adequate in this situation. We can’t resolve the grief a person is feeling,...
6th November 2024
The Bible begins with the book of Genesis affirming that God created the world and that it was very good. Continually throughout the Bible God reaffirms his positive attitude towards his creation. Yet...
5th November 2024
My daughter and I love to take the flashlight tour of the Baldwin Hotel Museum this time of year. We like to hear the history. Some of the people come to be spooked by the ghosts that may be...
4th November 2024
You don’t need to search far for references to Jesus in Micah’s prophecies. They are there in plain sight, from the prediction of his birth over 700 years before the event (Micah 5:2), ...
3rd November 2024
Have you ever had a conversation in which the primary communication was not the words spoken? Maybe an exchange with an old friend where you say very little to express your relationship? Maybe a...
2nd November 2024
Every year, I buy an amaryllis bulb, put it in the planting mix, give it some water and set it in a window. Then I marvel at how a bud emerges from the bulb, growing taller and larger until it finally...
1st November 2024
‘Jesus’ blood never fails me’ are the words in a contemporary Christian song1 but what does the blood of Jesus mean? To talk of the blood of Jesus can seem more appropriate to the script...
31st October 2024
If you are a captured soldier, in a closely guarded prison, unless you are able to escape, you are, to all intents and purposes, out of the fight. But if you are a Christian soldier, regardless of...
30th October 2024
Sometimes it can be a real struggle to find the energy to pray, especially when we have a busy period at work; we are rushed off our feet looking after our children, or we are consumed with grief,...
29th October 2024
Do you have a hard time listening? I set my mind to be still and to listen to the voice of God. I tell God that I have come to listen to him, and I try to think of nothing else but God speaking. I...
28th October 2024
In this scripture, Jesus himself draws a parallel between his own story and that of the prophet Jonah. On a sinking ship, Jonah declares to terrified sailors, “…I worship the...
27th October 2024
Have you ever been caught in a hurricane or a tornado? It can be a harrowing experience. If you are lucky, the only experience you’ve had with these monsters is footage from the news. But these...
26th October 2024
My last study may have left you feeling discouraged about the state of our hearts – dark, corrupt and deceitful above all things – or wondering about my reasoning in bringing up something we...
25th October 2024
‘It’s a perfect day!’ the bride and groom beamed. It was their wedding day; the sun shone, everyone was dressed in their best, and having a wonderful time. Food, wine, song and dance flowed in...
24th October 2024
Have you ever pleaded with God in prayer for something and the answer was not what you hoped for? Maybe you prayed that God would bless you with a particular job and you didn’t even get an...
23rd October 2024
Professor Peter Tse is an atheist, psychologist, and neuroscientist; his profession is to explore the inner universe of the mind and brain. In a discussion with the Christian professor John Lennox,...
22nd October 2024
In our attempt to love and accept all people, to be open to the way they do things and to accept their beliefs, we have become too lax in the things we believe. These words have been attributed...
21st October 2024
It feels like a confession when I admit that I always read the end of any book first. I like to know where it’s going – and then I can assess the path it takes to get there. The entire Bible, read...
20th October 2024
The selfie is the new autograph. Armed constantly with our phones, if we run into a famous person or even go to a famous place, we can snap a picture instantly. It’s better than the old, impersonal...
19th October 2024
A recurrent theme in Christian circles is repentance and that’s because it’s a recurrent theme in Scripture. There’s probably not a book in the whole Bible that doesn’t either...
18th October 2024
The book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians at a time when they were facing persecution from other Jews who didn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah. The author was showing how Jesus...
17th October 2024
How should we approach God when we pray? Some people approach prayer demanding that God acts, naming and claiming what they want God to do. Others can be so reticent that their prayers indicate that...