Lycra Clad Men Chasing Each Other Around the Countryside...

So "The Tour" begins!

My wife kindly wasted four minutes of her life the other day patiently listening whilst I commentated on this video:



Not that I'm an expert, but when you enjoy something, you can't help but speak profusely about it and make it sound (at least to the ignorant) like you are.

I would love to do some of those mountain stages one day.

It's events like this along with so many other human activities which remind me that our common belief, that the story of our existence is survival, is a vain myth.

In Christ, the Marriage of the Infinite to the Finite.

Ever found your head exploding with the idea of the infinitude of God? And if there was anything left of your head after that, did you ever ponder the mystery of how that infinite God could be united to temporary finite creatures like us?  How the impossible chasm would be crossed?

A. W. Tozer helps bring the beginnings of clarity to that subject in refreshingly (and ironically) few words. He writes in his book "The Knowledge of the Holy:"

...Of all that can be thought or said about God, His Infinitude is the most difficult to grasp. Even to try to conceive of it would appear to be self-contradictory, for such conceptualization requires us to undertake something which we know at the outset we can never accomplish. Yet we must try, for the Holy Scriptures teach that God is infinite and, if we accept His other attributes, we must of necessity accept this one too.

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Video Round Up

From the darkly humorous:


To the simple and illuminating:

See more here

To the strongly encouraging...
Sean and Josh have also posted an excellent video on prayer here.

Out of the Storehouse...

Listening again to a message given by Terry Virgo at our church back in 2007 about how God is with us every day.  Explaining John 14:1-20.

Like water to a dry and thirsty soul. Listen here.

Driving a Stake into Political Correctness...

One way to control society and help people to accept what they have - is by recasting history.

For example, we could tell people that before the rise of enlightenment rationalism, everyone who ever lived was stupid, gullible, superstitious and illiterate... What...? We have already...? No...  Really...?  How clever!!

"I really can't consider a Christian a good, moral person if he isn't trying to convert me."

Quote taken from a fascinating article about why many young people (in the USA, at least) are embracing atheism.

"I don't respect people who don't proselytize. I don't respect that at all. If you believe that there's a heaven and hell and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think that it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward.... How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?"

Before going into self-flagellation mode, remember those who walk away have to be able to justify that to their own hearts, they wouldn't be able to live with themselves otherwise. No one in all of history has ever lived out their beliefs perfectly, apart from Jesus.  That's what makes the good news so scandalously good. Nevertheless, there is truth to be heard here, some of it is uncomfortable.

Maybe this is one reason why universalism is so appealing to many who remain in the church - one can absolve one's conscience and remove the fear of all potentially awkward social situations with a single knockout punch.

Full article here.

Something Divine in Them

Emperor Hadrian (the one who built the wall to keep the Scots out) persecuted Christians. One Christian - Aristides of Athens - wrote to the emperor in defense of his brothers and sisters.

It's interesting to see what he picks out as their distinctives. In his words, the divine life in them, leads them mainly to incredible self-sacrifice.

“The Christians know and trust the True God. They placate those who oppress them and make them their friends and they do good to their enemies. Their wives are pure, and their daughters modest. Their men abstain from unlawful marriage and from all impurity. If any of them have slaves they persuade them to become Christians because of the love that these masters have toward them and when they become believers their masters immediately call them brothers without distinction. They love one another. They do not refuse to help widows. If someone is doing violence to an orphan they rescue the child. He who has gives ungrudgingly to him who has not. If they see a stranger they take him to their dwellings and rejoice over him as over a real brother, for they do not call themselves brothers after the flesh but after the Spirit and in God. If anyone among them is poor and needy, and they do not have food to spare they fast for two or three days that they might supply him with the necessary food. They scrupulously obey the commands of their Messiah. Every morning and every hour they thank and praise God for His loving kindness toward them. Because of them there flows forth all the beauty that there is in the world. But the good deeds they do they do not proclaim in the ears of the multitude, but they take care that no one shall perceive them. Thus they labor to become righteous. Truly this is a new people and there is something divine in them.”

I fall far short of this, but as Western democracies run out of steam in general, and money in particular, it may well be this kind of service that becomes a more familiar part of a Christian's daily discipleship.

For more, click here.