Exodus

Just thinking…We are a society of contradictions, it seems. Yesterday I listened to talkback radio discussing the upcoming referendum on the so-called ‘End of Life Choice’ from the perspective of one of its proponents. It was a public discussion on a proposal for what is effectively state-sanctioned suicide. If this referendum gives the nod to…

Just thinking…I loved a story that came out of the last lockdown from the Bradford Manor Rest Home in Dunedin. This facility was home to a number of elderly residents including 26 dementia sufferers. During the lockdown, the home was closed to visitors, and family were not allowed to visit because of the fear that…

Just thinking…This Sunday has been set aside as Carey College Day, where we give focus to the work of our Baptist theological training college – Carey College. This college was started in 1926 and since then has had a long track-record of equipping people to serve Jesus in a variety of settings, both locally and…

Just thinking…Do you feel like we’ve been here before?! How are you feeling as a result? Super-excited about the prospect of another lockdown (of uncertain duration)? Depressed? Frustrated? Peaceful? I’m not quite sure what I feel about it, but it is certainly more familiar ground than the first time we passed this way. It reminds…

Just thinking…I am loving being involved in the SHAPE course. There are around 20 of us on a six-week journey of self-discovery, which is really the discovery of the divine artistry and design that our Creator has fashioned in each one of us. Each week, we sit in the weirdly wonderful place of simultaneously exploring God’s handiwork…

Just thinking…Here’s an insightful little story from a man called Arthur Gordon. One raw, cold day last winter I found myself having lunch at the seaside cottage of some friends, an attractive young couple in their twenties. The only other guest was a retired college professor, a marvellous old gentleman, still straight as a lance after…

Just thinking…It has been a wild week in Aotearoa, and not just in terms of the weather. The seedy side of political life has been exposed. The underbelly has been laid bare, and it ain’t pretty. Affairs, scandals, inappropriate behaviour have been in the spotlight and talkback radio has been running hot on the issue….

Just thinking…It has been called many things by many people. The “curious record of the visions of a drug addict” (George Bernard Shaw); “the most rabid outburst of vindictiveness in all recorded history” (Friedrich Nietzsche); a “misogynist male fantasy at the end of time” (feminist New Testament scholar, Tina Pippin). It is the one book of the…

Just thinking…Do you know that one of the jobs you could choose to aspire to in life is as a hand model? Yes, they do exist! You’ve probably heard of runway models, fashion models and the like. Well, there are also people who never have any part of themselves photographed … except their perfectly toned…

Just thinking…Lament. It’s not a word we use much. It’s also not something we do much. It is the act of coming to God not just when things are going well, but when things aren’t. It is the freedom to come to God with raw honesty rather than with a disguising veneer of composure. Maybe…