There is a sense in which our sins are never forgiven. They are like the free lunch – free to you perhaps, but somebody has to pay down the line. It is usually the one who is innocent who pays when the accounts are called in. Sin is like the free lunch and when we...
Jigsaw puzzles have never been my thing. I am blind to the little clues so I empathize with the man reading the Bible when Philip said to him, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he replied, "How can I without someone to guide me?" Yet he was a man who knew...
Somebody said that if God were truly scientific, he would have written the Book of Genesis as a scientific formula. Maybe, but it would create a dilemma. Unless we all held doctorates in science we could not understand anything about it. It would be a closed book to...
Hands up those who have ever heard a sermon on Jehoiachin. (Pronounced Gee-hoy-a-kin.) Gee-hoy-a-kin who? Who was he? A king. A king of where? Israel. Was he a good king? No. Did he reign a long time? No Why would anyone preach about him? Why should anyone make him...
The empty landscape stretched below me. Time had erased indelible landmarks and nothing remained of lives lived there. There had been a homestead, grain and vehicle sheds, domestic animal yards and a whole family, living, growing and learning. But now 150 years of...
If you donate a certain sum of money, your name will be inscribed on the Honour Roll, said the screed. I looked again, carefully, because to that time I had felt impressed to donate my ‘two cents.’ It was shattering to discover that even in donating to the Word of...
The first fruit in our home garden this year was a handful of cherries. Picked newly ripe, rain washed and ready for eating, they reminded us of a centuries-old celebration. The offering of the first fruits in old Israel symbolized the awakening from the death of...
Looking through the window, I see the likeness of a miniature magpie. It is formed by a rose branch and some leaves hanging down and is the image of a magpie standing alert with head looking upward and forward. Even the colouring of black with white on the back of the...
It seems that all over the world, one thing is in short supply. It is almost impossible to find it whether you look north, south, east or west and it seems to be lacking in every culture, every town and even in places of worship. I was speaking with a Chaplain and he...
He was new to the staff of the company and was asked to deliver a sealed message to the Director. Unknown the new member, the message asked the Director to give the new man life membership. “You will have to knock at the door,” he was told by his senior officer, “and...