We can sometimes have different understandings of what exactly clean looks like. A clean car, or a clean house, may look different to one person than to another. Why? Because we have different standards by which we judge whether something is clean or not. For example, a child may be perfectly happy with the state…
It’s interesting to think about the traditions that we have. If I could hazard a guess, I think that tradition has more a significant role in our lives than we often think it does. Many people eat the same kinds of foods at Christmas time. I know of families that always go on holiday to…
(Our church holds a regular book club where we aim to read good Christian books that encourage us in following Jesus). Book Review by Elin. Gary Millar has written a compact little book on what it means to live as a Christian. But compact and little does not mean it is not also deep, profound,…
There’s this story about the Queen of England. Reportedly, on one of her walks around the estate at Balmoral Castle, she encountered a group of tourists. Totally clueless to who they were in the presence of, the group of American tourists struck up a conversation. They asked the Queen if she was living nearby. The…
In my garden I have the plant Allysum. I planted the first seeds about 7 or 8 years ago and ever since then it has popped up every year. It has beautiful white flowers and creeping habit. In Mark 6:7-13 we discover that the gospel is meant to be spread around. The gospel doesn’t just…
Evil spirits? It’s amazing how the Bible speaks so openly about the reality of the unseen realm. The idea of the existence of spiritual beings, angels or demons, for some people belongs to the same category as unicorns, and imaginary friends. That is, for many people, they are myths. For me, growing up here in…
31 years ago I was in my own little world. I was playing happily by myself in the sandpit. All was well with the world, until a passing teach informs me I had missed the school bell! Aghast, I looked around and saw a deserted playground. I quickly hurried off to class. I heard the…
Have you ever been led up the garden path? Have you believed something that wasn’t quite true? Maybe you saw advertised on TV a product that said it would make you look 10 years younger, but it doesn’t seem to be working. Or perhaps you booked a holiday. The website said the price was…
In the TV show Psych there is this running joke about the main character of the show, Shawn. Shawn always changes jobs and those closest to him say that he never commits. However, from Shawn’s point of of view, he thinks that working for a week in job makes him an expert, so just quits…
What’s the point? That’s the question I asked myself while I was vacuuming the lounge room just as a horde of people arrived to trample dirt into the carpet. What’s the point of carefully wrapping up Christmas presents, with fine detail and ribbon, just for them to get ripped to pieces? We all ask ‘what…
