These Lively Oracles

So often we have heard sermons preached so much about a certain subject or incident in the Bible that we forget some of the other things that occurred alongside these incidents. We have heard countless sermons and talks preached about the Israelite’s journeys through the Sinai Wilderness – The crossing of the Red Sea, The building of The Tabernacle and the Ark Of The Covenant, The fiery pillar by night which was seen as a cloud by day, The giving of The Ten Commandments, etc. But there was also another ancient artifact that was solemnly carried through the desert that we seem to have forgotten about. The coffin containing the body of Joseph. Genesis Ch50 v22-26 tells us of Joseph’s death, and how he was embalmed and put into a coffin. But his body was not taken to the Promised Land until after Moses had risen to power. There he was kept for approximately 140 years before Moses was raised up and ready to challenge Pharaoh to “let God’s people go”. The events of the plagues of Eg...

While letting my mind wander through some old thoughts and memories lately I came across a memory that I hadn’t thought about for a very long time. It was the day I did my driving test. And an incident happened that day which was to come back to me in later years as a cherished lesson in faith. I did my driving test as a teenager and it was done on a Friday mid-afternoon. The location was one of the busiest main roads in our city and the roads were filled with works traffic, school traffic, buses and other commuters. I don’t think that there was any part of my test were I drove any faster than 20mph. During the course of the test I made every single mistake known to be made. When asked to turn right I indicated to turn left. The examiner reminded me to turn right and off we went down into the leafy streets of suburbia. When it came to the bit where we “make the car face in the opposite direction using only forward and reverse gears” I did everything wrong during the maneouv...

Back in the early 1970's, pop music was moving from one certain style into another. Gone were the old styles of Rock'n'Roll and sweetheart ballads and along came Glam Rock and Heavy Metal. It was a transitional time for music lovers and it divided many friends and fans as they explored these new styles and genres. But it wasn't all plain sailing from a musical point of view. There were some occasional terrible songs that made it through the cracks of the musical styles and ended up being uncharacteristically popular. And they were woeful. One such song was a comedy song called "Ernie. The Fastest Milkman In The West". Musically, it was awful. A simple musical tune with some tongue-in-cheek lyrics that told the story in a rhyming, comical way. And it should have been nowhere near the musical hit parade. But there it was soaring up the popularity charts. I wouldn’t even have been mentioning this song at all except that it was played on the radio ...

There has been a strong wind blowing outside these last few nights. I could also hear the rain against the window. It has been cold and blowy. And it brought back a memory from my childhood of another windy night. But this time the gales were moaning and howling. Literally moaning and howling. They reminded me of the banshee scene from the Disney movie Darby O’Gill And The Little People. I was frightened. I curled up on the chair beside my dad and he explained to me that is what happens to wind when it is forced to change direction. You see, we lived on a street where the houses on either side of the street formed a funnel like shape and faced toward the sea. Sometimes the wind blew in from the sea and up the street. And when it reached our house it had to change direction and it was forced between the other houses. This strange quirk between buildings and nature caused the howling sound that had frightened me all those years ago. To further reinforce his explanation, my fa...