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A little while ago a friend of mine in ministry did something wrong – he sinned! The church he was working for asked him to step down from ministry and go find another job. I was sad for my friend that he had made a mistake, but more so for the church’s reaction. I wonder sometimes if people are...

I found this blog entry at this address (although I can't post links yet) jonnitta.com/2014/04/28/why-are-christians-so-angry/ I see lots of people who I think are posting on forums out of their 'wrath'! What do you think? ---------------- I just read a great blog piece recently by Kevin...

A good friend of mine was once working as a Personal Assistant to the wife of a major Christian mission organisation that I admire greatly. My friend was very good at her job and enjoyed it. She became very close to her boss. However it was an extremely difficult job. At times the pressure to...

Aronofsky’s movie Noah attracted a lot of attention and comment when it first came out. It seems like he initially did a great job getting Christians on side only to disappoint them when the movie came out. There was one thing that he got right, in the biblical picture of the time of Noah, the...

I have some friends that never let you pay for anything. They never want you to do anything for them because they don’t want to feel ‘in debt’ to them. I find this quite sad. In Gen 4 we read the story of Cain and Abel and how sin uses Cain’s feeling of rejection to strike out in anger at his...

I didn't know about this book / movie until I read this. http://christandpopculture.com/christians-respond-heaven-real/ I found it quite helpful.

I once had a great opportunity. I put in a proposal, prayed hard and waited for the response. I kept praying and praying but there was no response. The opportunity was lost. It was hard not to get frustrated at God! I asked myself, did God reject me? In Gen 4 we read the story of Cain and Abel...

In many countries in the West there is a debate about Multiculturalism. Some people see it as a good thing that enriches people’s lives with difference experiences and should be fully embraced. Others feel a sense of fear of losing their culture and their cultural identity. I think this shows...

I live outside of my home country. Most years now I get at least one trip home. I look forward to going home. I know I will get to see my family. I know that some of the things that I grew up with will be there in the shops, the familiar tastes and smells. Before I go home, they are future...

I recently saw the movie monument men. It was about saving important cultural icons so that after the war culture could be saved or rebuilt. The theory being that when Hitler knew he had lost he wanted to destroy culture. In the movie some show an initial distrust of the motives of these men...

One of my ‘heroes’ when I was a young missionary was Loren Cunningham. He is a man who has travelled to nearly every country in the world and preached the gospel in each of these countries. For me he truly epitomises the idea of taking forward the kingdom of God. When you listen to Loren speak...

I sat and watch a little girl at a shopping centre playing. She was being a bit naughty playing with her brother’s toy until she was caught by her father. I could see by her reaction that she was being ready to get yelled at. She knew her father’s first reaction and she was preparing for it...

The other day I drove past a man who was dragging a large cross. The cross was on wheels, but I drive up some big hills almost every day. This man was dragging his cross up and down these hills. My first thought was that this man must be crazy. What sort of God tells people to do such a crazy...

Luke starts his story of the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:1-7) with a description of the Emperor’s decree for a census. There are two purposes to mentioning this decree. The first is to give a reason for why Joseph and Mary are in Bethlehem for Jesus’ birth. The second reason is to put the idea of...

In 1:6-7 we read two things about Zechariah and Elizabeth. They were ‘righteous before God’, that is they followed the law ‘blamelessly’, Zechariah was a priest who faithful served in the temple and yet they were childless despite being older. However despite their faithful service to God they...

I have two small children. For my house this means lots of chaos. It feels like a never ending battle bringing order to the house. It feels like after 5 minutes of the children being awake or coming home the house is in complete chaos. The Bible starts with a picture of utter chaos. For the...

The other day in church I was listening to yet another altar call. The preacher was telling us that Jesus saves. If we have problems with loneliness then we should come to the front because Jesus saves us from our loneliness. If we have problems with anger that is destroying our families then...