The value of things depends not on the things themselves but on whether or not people value them. Lobster (like oysters, foie gras, polenta and sushi) used to be food for peasants and prisoners – actually, lobster was used as fertiliser and fish bait. It was enterprising 19th century American railway operators passing it off…
Rick Warren is a humbling example of a faithful follower of Christ and so much of what he writes is a great inspiration and a help to millions. But I fear this particular commentary from Pastor Rick … You Were Created to Be Productive …is likely to engender pride in those who work in profit-driven…
Here are 4 verses from the Bible in chronological order. What’s going on here – does God want sacrifice (human or animal) or not? Gen 22:2 Then God said, “Take your son , your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one…
When asked to lead a session at a Parenting Teenagers course: Rather than trying to stock up on a repository of pre-prepared answers, we try continually to return to common anchor points that keep us united as we look to address specific questions as they come up. Three key anchors for us in parenting teenagers…
Following a heated discussion on a Mandarin Chinese Teacher’s forum about a TV programme: Two thoughts based on this discussion (I have nothing to add on the programme itself): The way our students feel/think about Chinese people (and themselves) as a result of our lessons is of infinitely greater value than the amount of Chinese language they learn from us The…
How Chinese New Year joy can help us to keep our business and community healthy The traditional way of counting the years in China reminds us of the cyclical nature of time. In the West, we tend to emphasise linear progression: getting one year older with each birthday, compiling annual reports, completing tax returns etc. Chinese New…
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in the closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. The Son is the image of the invisible God. [He] is the…
You’ll presumably come into the city at 1 from the south. The church steeple is the highest point in the city. It’s a Catholic Church, built in the Victorian era but intended to look older, by someone who made their fortune selling glass eyes for dolls! (If you go left, you’ll go past the Scott…
Allowing ourselves to be interrupted “I try never to be too busy to be interrupted, because it seems the most interesting things happen during interruptions” (Tony Morling at Host 2017) So many of Jesus’ interactions that are recorded in the gospels did not happen because they were planned but as interruptions to what was already going…
“The grace of God is awful to us, because the proper response to evil is to fear it and desire its destruction not to love it and desire its redemption.” This is my review of David Benjamin Blower’s book “Sympathy for Jonah: Reflections on Humiliation, Terror and the Politics of Enemy-Love,” which has a set of sea-shanty…