Always for our good

In puppet shows, sometimes the puppeteer uses puppets with two characters sewn into one? They're often characters with opposing personalities. Some people think that God is a bit like that: a lovely, kind character who's helpful and wise when people do their best, but then when bad stuff happens he…

Beauty, Jesus-style

In the 16th Century, some women copied Queen Elizabeth's pale complexion by applying something called 'ceruse'. Unfortunately this stuff contained white lead and whilst they may have achieved the skin tone of a royal, they'd soon end up with hair loss and skin damage (and quite possibly death). W…

Hedged in

Ever seen the comedian Tim Hawkins talking about the 'hedge of protection'? (It's pretty funny - search YouTube for it). At one point he impersonates someone saying to him 'Tim, we are praying a hedge of protection around you, buddy.' To which he responds 'A hedge, huh? I don't mean to complain, bu…

Admit when you mess up

Friends are great, right? But what about when they confront us or challenge us when we mess up big time? Are we likely to admit we were wrong or, will we treat it like a weird blip in the friendship and wait for normal service to resume? Let's face it...if they were 'real' friends they wouldn't be …

Make space for Jesus

Here's a scenario... two friends are so close and really love each other. When they get the chance, they chat for hours on end. But the problem is, they don't get together very often and the moments when they are together seem like fleeting moments. One friend is constantly trying to get in touch w…

Use your talent

One of Jesus' more hard-hitting stories is the parable of the talents, in Matthew 25:14-29. It tells of a man who trusted his servants with his property; and most of them looked after the talents they were given by doubling what they'd received. A 'talent' was an amount of currency, like a 'dollar'…

Find your flow

Have we ever said to ourselves: 'Right, I've a free evening, I'll just pray for the next 30 minutes', then four minutes in we've covered everything we can think of and we're done. It's easy to start feeling guilty about it. Classic guilt-train destinations: 'Wow, God must be pretty peeved at me, I …

What's your letter?

One of the Kings of Israel, Hezekiah, was being intimidated by Sennacherib, King of Assyria. And Hezekiah's first response? 'After Hezekiah had read the note from the king of Assyria, he took it to the temple and spread it out for the Lord to see' (Isaiah 37:14 CEV). In his letter, Sennacherib was …

Lifted in prayer

Those times when we're in a prayer meeting and absolutely everything's going through our mind - except what's being prayed for. Everything seems to be a distraction, from the rumble informing us we haven't eaten to organising our schedule. Here's something that should be a relief: we have someone…

The other cheek

CS Lewis said, 'Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.' When we refuse to forgive a person who has hurt us, we may feel like we're powerful. But it's a false power. Unforgiveness is like sipping poison and expecting someone else to die. Jesus puts the focu…