Helping hand

Like my friend Sean, I too have a thermometer, although I don't dislike it as much as him!

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Provocation to fast

See this post: 1hr 11mins 14secs.

Worth paying the licence fee for!

Whilst I don't have a TV and therefore don't pay the licence fee, I still get to watch BBC programmes for free on the internet, although I am told that free access won't last for long!!

One day I will have to pay! In the mean time, I enjoy programmes like this one for free!!

Great video 2:38

Go watch this.

Trinity: On Gift Horses and Mouths

A pupil at school asked me last week to give him a verse that illustrates the Trinity. If you know me, you'll know that the words "gift horse" and "mouth" sprung to my mind.

Turns out that the pupil in question is a Christadelphian. To see how they differ from mainstream evangelical theology on the person of Christ click here and scroll down to the sections titled "The nature of Jesus" and "The Son of God not God the Son".

What would you have said to his question?

Turns out he had his answer ready asuming I was going to go to either John 1 or Titus and sensing that his question was loaded somewhat, I went at it from a different angle and to the Old Testament:

Gen 19:24, which clearly gives us two LORDs acting in unity (of the Spirit).
Isaiah 63:7-10 where we have all three: the LORD (the Father), the Angel of his Presence who is sent to save his people (the Son) and the Holy Spirit, whose conviction the people stubbornly refuse.
Finally Isaiah 48:16 where one who clearly identifies himself as the LORD says that he is sent by the Lord along with the Spirit.

If there is no Trinity, there is no gospel, no hope and no meaning to existence, in fact we wouldn't even be here in the first place.

He's a really nice guy. Not sure what he made of the answer I gave him, but a dialogue has opened and he has faithfully returned to our meetings ever since and seems to genuinely interested in what we are doing!

So hurrah!

TBC... I hope!

Ruminating on a Ransom Whilst doing some Routine Running

It's a funny kind of joy that the Christian has. It is at one and the same time exuberant and contrite.

As I jogged to work today, I pumped along to the sound of the Psalms on my iPod and the one that struck me most afresh was Psalm 49. The Psalm recounts how stupid and hopeless men and women are when they trust themselves and each other to make themselves acceptable before God.

Then comes beautiful verse 15.

And with the sun streaming down on my face, wonderfully symbolic (I run in an easterly direction to work), I gave thanks to Jesus for paying my ransom and ran on full of hope.

Eternal Life

This morning I read 1 John 1:2 and was gloriously reminded that Eternal Life is not an elixir that you find after a quest deep into the Andes, or at the chemist (after someone has been to the Andes to get it for you). It is not something that your money can buy or an education figure out. It is a relationship, pure and simple.

(Eternal) Life is not about what you know and have, but rather who you know and have.

So I press on in Hope.