These Lively Oracles

“I’ve Sent Her Legs To Hell…..” I knew a man many years ago. He was a wonderful person to know. Very kind. Uncomplicated. Laid back. He was a good few years older than me at the time and I had the greatest of pleasures of calling him a friend. We would talk of many things. But he was always curious about my interest in The Bible. Not in a bad way. You see, he was a very staunch denominational person while I attended other churches that were non-denominational. I would share many thoughts and musings from my Bible. But he just couldn’t grasp how he, as a lifelong member of a very long established denominational church, had never heard of some of the simple Bible stories I was telling him. (Not because I was in any way special, but more because his church was very lax in their teachings). Anyway, we met up one time for our regular coffee and chat and his demeanour was so very downhearted. I asked him what was wrong but he didn’t talk. He wanted to, but was so very withdrawn t...

 This is a story. An allegory. A parable, if you will… A man arrived at the gates of Heaven seeking admission. The gate-keeper asks “Name, please?” The man gives his name. “What Church did you belong to?” asks the gate-keeper.  “I didn’t belong to any Church”, says the man. “Ok”, says the gatekeeper. “What good things, or charitable acts of kindness did you do in your life?” “None,” said the man. “I lived the life of a career criminal and a thief”. “Well, what makes you think that you can get in here?” asks the gatekeeper. The man looked past the gatekeeper and pointed, “That man there said I could come”. The gatekeeper turned and looked to where the man was pointing and then asked, “And how do you know him?” The man replied “He was hanging on the cross beside me a few days ago. He said I could come”.

There are a set of handwritten documents buried somewhere in my roofspace. I know they’re there. I put them there and I wrote them myself. They are my college notes from my studies when I was an apprentice electrician from 1975 to 1979. Hand written notes. Hand drawn diagrams. Properly coloured and annotated as proper electrical diagrams and text should be. The calculator hadn’t yet been made available to the public when I started my studies. It became available nearer the end of my studies and it cost the equivalent of a week’s wages when I bought one. I had to buy it from one of those easy repayment books. And so, the tech notes sit there. I have carried them through several house moves and several life changes. But I always kept them somewhere safe. I am approaching retirement age now. And it loathes me to throw the notes out. They represent many, many hours of study. A good few exams – All hand written and drawn. (No computers or internet to cut and paste from in those days). ...

I came across a question in an article. It was a rhetorical question, but it got me thinking further. The question was “what use is a well if it doesn't have a bucket?”  But indeed, what use is a violin without a bow? Or, what use is a drum without a stick to hit it? It is impossible for someone to applaud anything with only one hand. Bear with me, now…… For years and years I have heard about the spiritual well of Christianity. We used to sing the chorus “There’s a well in me that’s overflowing. There’s a well in me that fills my soul”. Jesus said it of himself... "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." John 4:14 But in John ch4 there’s an aspect to the incident of the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well that is always overlooked. And it is recorded back in verse 11 "The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw wa...