Posts from June 2014

Some folk may think that God calling for someone to serve as a pastor is a mystical and mysterious thing. The Lord certainly doesn’t send you an email saying, “I want you to become a pastor.” In some ways it is a mystical and mysterious thing. In other ways it is very ordinary as the Lord uses other people to guide us and steer us in that direction. There were two men in particular who helped steer me in that…

You don’t have to scratch hard to find someone’s fears and insecurities. Okay, some of us have become good at covering up those anxieties. We put a brave face on it. We may even be under the illusion that we’re in control – as William Ernest Henley’s poem “INVICTUS” claims: Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. Through the fell clutch of…

Two older women came to the door and after greeting me, asked whether I was concerned about the state of the present-day world. Well, who wouldn’t be? I cottoned on quickly that these ladies were doorknocking for a sect, so I politely told them that I too looked forward to the new creation that is coming when Jesus returns. But I made clear that I didn’t accept their views about who Jesus is. The leading lady was quite aggressive so…

Recently my wife and I watched the finals of the Eurovision contest. It’s an annual musical competition in which the various European nations vie for the winning place in the finals. We’ve watched it for some years and have enjoyed many of the performances – although there are other performances that provide a good time to go and make a cup of coffee. This year the winner of the competition was a bearded drag queen, Conchita from Austria. I’m not…

No, I’m not talking about you getting stuck in peak hour on the Ipswich Motorway. Trafficking is a term that is often used for those caught up in the drug trade as dealers. It is also used for those who arrange for illegal immigrants to get to our shores. However the kind of trafficking that particularly bothers me at the moment is the trafficking that takes place in what is often referred to as the “sex industry”. Last week the…