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On one of the shelves in my study is an old pocket bible.  It belonged to the first person for whom I took a funeral. He died without next-of-kin, and the care home where he was a resident asked if I would like to have it, otherwise it would just be thrown away.  It turns … Read more

For much of our driving lives, we’ve driven old cars.  For ten years, that was a pair of first-generation Nissan Micras.  Fantastically well-made, almost indestructible cars.  In fact, we only moved on to something marginally less old because it was getting hard to find replacement parts.  Woody (as we knew our previous car) was just … Read more

Poor old Saul.  One of the notorious tragic-comic figures of the bible.  A man who never really knew who he was.  Chosen to be king for his physical attributes – as if being tall and handsome was the best qualification for leadership! – we first encounter him wandering around the desert searching for his father’s … Read more

In the lists of people’s ‘favourite stories of the bible’, the story of Jephthah is not likely to be one of them.  And with good reason – it is a story of human brokenness from start to finish.  Broken families, broken promises; and with tragic irony the one thing that apparently can’t be broken is … Read more

History is full of unlikely heroes.  Read the following paragraph: who is this? At the age of 7 he was the worst in his class. His school report declared that he ‘seems unable to learn anything.’  He was denied the secondary school of his choice by his father who considered him ‘such a stupid boy’.  … Read more

Leadership is a spiritual task.  For all that there is a whole secular industry nowadays teaching leadership and management principles, the essence of good leadership – wisdom, humility, service, vision, empowerment – are things which reside in the nature and heart of God.  It stands to reason, then, that the calling of true leadership is … Read more

If I was to ask you to guess the first spiritual gift mentioned in the bible, what do you think it is?  Preaching?  Prayer?  Miracles?  Leadership?  No, non, nein and nej.  It’s creativity.  You might be surprised to learn that the first person we encounter in the bible who is ‘filled with the Spirit of God’ … Read more

If Genesis 1 is the big picture account of creation – the grand canvas – Genesis 2 is more personal and intimate: the tender portrait of a loving God making and relating to human beings, the glory of His creation.  In Genesis 1 we learn that God makes humans in his image, both male and … Read more

In 1998, Dame Judi Dench won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Queen Elizabeth I in the film ‘Shakespeare in Love’.  Despite the fact that she only appeared in the film for 8 ½ minutes, her presence as the reigning monarch was felt throughout, and, being the supreme actress that she is, … Read more