christian

Just thinking…There is a poem made popular by Corrie Ten Boom, the Dutch woman who, along with her family helped Jews escape the Nazis in World War by hiding them in her home, and who was later sent to a Nazi concentration camp. It is a poem about the enormous contrast between the upper and…

Just thinking…Like it or not, America is a global influencer and the things that happen there are often felt in other parts of the world also. America is deeply hurting at the moment. Michelle Goldberg of The New York Times recently noted that America has revisited some of the most traumatic experiences of the past century all…

Just thinking…I was sitting with a group of Baptist pastors yesterday. It was the first time we had connected since the lockdown began, and as you might expect, the conversation quickly turned to how the different churches represented had experienced the last eight weeks. One of them talked about how he had heard it said a…

Just thinking…Now, time for a funny! Last year, I read about a woman called Siobhan in England who was celebrating her birthday, and being a big Mariah Carey fan (an American pop-singer, for those who don’t know!), she told her colleagues that she would love a cake with a picture of Mariah Carey on it….

Just thinking…As we journey through the book of Job, it raises the issues of pain and suffering. In a book called ‘Letters Never Sent’, Ruth van Reken writes on this topic. Ruth was the daughter of a missionary couple, and she lived in Nigeria for many years separated from her parents. This was the beginning…

Just thinking…As you may expect, there has been a lot of thinking and writing recently about how covid-19 will change the face of churches going forward. And make no mistake, it will. The question of ‘how?’ is another thing altogether! I was reading a recent article by American, Michael Frost who noted that since covid-19…

Just thinking…Who is the wisest person you know? When I ask that question, your mind will probably reach out for a certain set of criteria; these criteria may or may not include intelligence or academic learning, but chances are that even if they make it onto your list, they won’t be the most important thing….

Just thinking…Naomi Cowan is a fellow Baptist (yay!) who runs a mental health ministry based out of Windsor Park Baptist Church. She has shared the following thoughts, which I think make good sense for us all to engage with. Well here we are with Easter out of the way and we head into Week 3 of…

Just thinking…There was a prominent Christian called Irenaeus, a bishop of Lyons, who was born a hundred years or so after the events of the first Easter story. In reflecting on the life of Christ, this is what he wrote. It is wisdom and brain-fodder for us to mull over! He is the First-begotten, after…

Just thinking…I love a small story buried in the Old Testament of a king called Jehoshaphat, who was being attacked by a vast army that his nation had no hope of resisting (you can read it in 2 Chronicles 20). People from all over his land came to him and they together sought God’s will….