What would you guess this is a photo of? A cloud of butterflies against an exotic sunset? A man taking home the fruits of a hard, but satisfying, day’s labour?
What this photo really shows is a swarm of migratory locusts, which last year destroyed a massive 25% of Madagascar’s food crops and put the food security of 13 million people at risk. So what looks beautiful at first glance is actually life threatening.
And the sack that the man is carrying is full of dead locusts which he has spent the day catching; so the photo also reflects a futile toil. How discouraging to be under the weight of that heavy sack, while seeing all around you that the threat to your livelihood continues unabated, despite your best efforts.
Maybe, just over a week into the new year, you’re already feeling a bit like this man. Perhaps it’s a struggle with sin that’s weighing us down—with each temptation we successfully resist, opportunities to sin keep gathering like a swarm. So much so that sometimes, when you look at it in the right light, sin starts to look less deadly and actually kind of attractive…
But take heart:
“This is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” - 1 John 5 v 3-4
It was not going well.
She was a professional, and liked to tie everything down. Her team knew what was expected of them, and had worked enough big events not to get in a panic when something went wrong.
She'd handled drunks and accidents, and the time when the chicken turned out to be decidedly "off". She'd even stepped in and rescued the situation when a fight broke out between the two families.
Who'd be a wedding planner?... continue reading
Stuck on the sofa over the past week with a horrible bug, I've been able to indulge in a few TV favourites. One blast from the past that never fails to please is an episode or two of Frasier: a sitcom about about radio psychiatrist whose life is gloriously ridiculous. His catchphrase is well-known to fans across the globe: "I'm listening" starts every one of his radio shows, uttered in the silky smooth tones that only talented actors can muster. It's a phrase that is, at times, spoken insincerely but he tries... when on air, he wants to be there for his listeners.
The way we listen to someone shows a lot about our relationship with them:
You can always spot a young couple in the first flush of love. They hang on each other's words with eyes wide open. Even the most mundane of communications is met with delight because the mere sound of the other person's voice brings warmth to the heart.... continue reading
This time last year, I mentioned six ways to look godly while not growing in your faith — and then spent 2013 battling them, falling for them, and finding several other ways, too. So here, for 2014, are six more ways to look great while doing little…
1. Multitask your Quiet Time
Every day, head off to a quiet place in your house with a Bible for half an hour. It will really encourage anyone you live with, and set a great example. And half an hour is a very long time. A brief read of the Bible, a quick Lord’s Prayer, and you’ve got about 28 minutes left for thinking through some work issues, or writing a mental shopping list, or considering where to go on your next vacation, or even doing some serious meditation with your eyes closed.... continue reading
If you’re anything like me, the new year brings a time of reflection. Whether you’re in to new year resolutions or not, it’s good to look back and see what has gone well in the past year and look forward, thinking about what could do with changing in the coming twelve months.
One area of my life that constantly disappoints is my prayer life. I’m acutely conscious that my prayers all too often tend to be vague, human-centred, irregular and offered on the assumption that I know what’s best for me and everyone around me. And I know I’m not the only one who struggles in areas like these!
So, in 2014 I’m not so much going to plan to pray as itch to pray. It’s a mnemonic – one you might like to use too. It goes like this. Let’s pray:... continue reading
I've always had a strange feeling about New Year's Eve.
As a child we celebrated some curious rituals from a bygone age on New Years' Eve. As the youngest, I was regularly sent out the back door with a lump of coal and a sixpence in my pocket, only to be admitted in the front door after the chimes had struck midnight. It was cold, lonely and a little bit scary being stuck outside on a freezing night.
And I will never forget the time at my Auntie's home in Rochdale, when the "mummers" showed up - with blackened faces, and strange clothes, they dusted the furniture making a humming noise to clean out the old year, and bring in the new. I still have nightmares...... continue reading
It won't come as a surprise that many of us here at The Good Book Company are avid readers. Good books, or not so good books, we dip in to as many as we can! As we approach the end of another year, we thought we'd share with you some of our favourite titles of the past 12 months. Feel free to add your favourites at the end...
Carl (Senior Editor)
Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel. Brings history to life, brings characters to life, and challenges your own easy assumptions... And it means you can say you read a Booker-prize winning novel!... continue reading
It's now the day when the sales start, and the big "box stores" try to pull in as many of us as possible to grab our post-Christmas bargains and deal with the flurry of returns and exchanges. But what was the original purpose of this day? And why "boxing" day?
As I grew up the youngest of three lively boys, it was inevitably the day when we started fighting each other over the use or breakage of a treasured Christmas present - the fights were never under the Marquis of Queensbury rules, and I usually lost. But it's not that kind of boxing.
Traditionally it is thought to have come from the Victorian practice of wealthy families presenting gifts in boxes to their household servants, and to tradesmen who had served them well during the year. In other words, a day of expressing gratitude to those less well off. An alternative, but related suggestion is that it was the day the church opened its Alms box to feed and bless the poor and needy of the parish.... continue reading
This is going to sound soppy, but I can still remember the first time my wife, then my girlfriend, said: “I love you”. It meant the world to me.
It still does, of course. But in the twelve years since, Lizzie has told me she loves me so many times that in a way, it has less of an impact than it did that first time (or the second, or third).
But (before you start thinking I’m a truly awful husband), her “I love you” also means much more than it did. Because, the more life we’ve spent together, and the more I’ve got to know her, and the more she’s done for me, the more I’ve come to appreciate that love, the more I’ve come to rely on that love.
So there’s this tension; it means more, but can have so much less impact. I need to just stop and appreciate the old truth: She loves me.... continue reading
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favourite things …
There won’t be much chance of escaping it over the festive period – the Sound of Music is as much a feature of many people’s Christmases as turkey, mince pies and the Grinch. But much as cute animals, beautiful plants and presents are to be enjoyed, it strikes us that there are many things far more wonderful about celebrating Christmas with our brothers and sisters in Christ in our local congregations.
So here are some of the things members of The Good Book Blog team love most about Christmas with their respective churches:... continue reading
