Rosemary Albert forwarded a very interesting blog to me this week by a guy called Akos Balogh. Like the proverbial frog in a beaker, we don’t always recognise the changes going on all around us and so it’s great to have social comment that sees beyond the immediate issue to the trends that are shaping…

What kind of God do you believe in? There are those who see him as the clockmaker who has created and wound up the universe and then left it to run while he goes on to other projects. Others see him as the absent-minded grand-dad, a nice old bloke who’s kind to everyone and just…

At a recent meeting of business people in the district, a discussion was held as to ways to make the most of Easter in the promotion of their businesses. In the midst of talk about Easter bunnies and paw prints in shop windows, one brave soul, wanting to be salt and light in his community,…

George Orwell’s book 1984 painted the terrifying picture of a dystopian future where the populace were constantly watched on ‘Telescreens’ and oppressed by propaganda and ‘thought police’. It was an ugly picture, and sadly some of it we see has come true in our world. But the more concerning prediction of the future was that…

When I first became a Christian, I’d been told you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian. That piece of news was a great relief to me, as I had clear preconceptions that church people must be weird. Not that I’d had much exposure to church – my preconceptions were utter ignorance,…

I remember leading one particular meeting in a church and afterwards a young Christian came up to me and said, ‘Ray, I used to think that it would be easy to be a minister, now I realise it’s not as easy as it looks’. I appreciated his honesty. In the early days of my Christian…

Today (Sun 17th March) our church family gathers at our annual joint service before the annual meeting and luncheon. Business meetings may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but every year I am greatly encouraged to see the way God has blessed us as the annual reports are presented and as God raises up leaders…

Conducting weddings over the years, I have watched many a bride walk down the aisle to her husband-to-be. It’s one of the great privileges of being a minister, but there is an even greater privilege. A couple of weeks ago, for the first and only time in my life, I got the chance to walk…

People do some weird things sometimes. I once saw my brother jumping around on one foot, pulling his ear and leaning his head sideways. When I asked him, he explained he was trying to get water out of his ear. Whatever weird things people do, there’s always a reason for the behaviour. Today at church…