These Lively Oracles

Shortly after I finished my apprenticeship I got an opportunity to go and work in London. While there I went to a building site looking for a job. The boss came out and asked all the relevant questions etc. Asked where I had worked, asked what sort of work I had done, asked for my qualifications and registration card, etc. Then he asked if he could look inside my toolbox. Puzzled, I opened it up for him to see and he just nodded his head and said, “Start work on Monday”. Although the incident intrigued me I never paid it much thought at the time since I was only too glad to get a job. Several years later I was relating this story to a different group of workmates and one older, wiser guy said, “You know that he wasn’t actually looking at the tools in your toolbox?” I looked at him in puzzlement. “He was actually looking at the dirt and rubbish that was lying in the bottom of your toolbox”. “What do you mean?” I asked him. “Well”, he said. “Anyone can walk onto a job...

There was a vehicle driving along a narrow country road. It was a tight wee road with grassy banks rising up from either side. The vehicle was a single decker bus, wider than a normal vehicle, but comfortably fitted on the road. While heading up toward the brow of a hill, all of a sudden there appeared another vehicle approaching from the opposite direction. It was a large agricultural lorry, a wide vehicle also. Both vehicles were approximately 8ft (2.5M) wide. The road was only 14ft (4.2M) wide. And the suddenness of the event meant that there was very little time to react. The first vehicle managed to stop quite quickly hard up against the grassy bank. But the oncoming vehicle didn’t manage to stop. The driver of the first vehicle braced and waited for the impending impact…….. And waited. There was no time to pray. There was no time to even think about “fight or flight”. There was just no time to do anything. The driver opened his eyes and looked in his side view mirror and wa...

It was a cold December day in 2017 when my wife and I were in London with family. We went into the Tate Modern on the Southbank just purely to get out of the cold. It was bitterly cold with a biting breeze coming in from the Thames and we were all starting to shiver. Unless you’re and artistic type with an eye for the eclectic and surreal you don’t need to ever waste your time visiting this building. We were only driven in there because of our desire to get out of the cold. Nothing more. However... …As things transpired, amidst my wanderings and wonderings at how anyone could even call some of this stuff “Art”, I turned a corner and was stopped in my tracks by the exhibit shown in the photograph. It stands about 20ft (6.5m) high and is built purely from electronic media devices. The base of it has some radios built by famous manufacturers who have disappeared into the history books – Grundig, Marconi, Pye – and as the exhibition rose up through its height the manufacturers become mo...

                                         You’re Getting Your Shadows Mixed Up ….. I remember once I was working as a leader at a children’s Bible Camp. A couple of times during the week the leaders were given a few hours rest period. On one such period I was sitting with a few other leaders when one young lady lifted a tennis racket. There was a tennis court just in front of where we were sitting so I lifted a racket too and went to the other side of the court. I assumed the position that all of the top players do and we proceeded to play a game. I returned her shot and she missed the ball. “Oh, Praise the Lord,” she shouted out. I looked at her and thought to myself, “Ok. She likes to shout it out”. After another couple of shots she missed another one. She did a little dancing type spi...

                                        Big Doors Swing On Wee Hinges Have you ever felt “insignificant” among God’s people? Ever felt that you were just there to fill a seat? Or give money into the collection plate? Don’t worry. Believe me. You are more important than that. Let’s take a look at a woman from the Old Testament. I want to look at an apparent oddity contained in the Old Testament. The Book of Ruth. It is a small little book consisting of only four chapters and stuck in between the massive historical tomes of the Old Testament. The previous seven books from Genesis to Judges contain 232 chapters. While the following six books after Ruth - 1 st Samuel to 2 nd Chronicles - contain 167 chapters. Such a tiny little book should surely be out of place amongst all the worthy historical accounts of ancient Isra...

                           “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stranger” Yes. You read it correctly. Stranger! Ever seen that person sitting quietly in the corner of the church? You paid them no notice, right? Or maybe you smiled. Or nodded. And then they bowed their head or averted their gaze to something else? And you did too? Or maybe you just say “hi” to the person in the next seat or pew. And they smile and say “hi” back to you. But no one pursues any further conversation. Emotional battles, even ones fought long ago, do take their toll on people. And people who have fought these battles, although they don’t necessarily become withdrawn, always seem to prefer their own company. They sit quietly in the corner of the pub, or the church, or the cinema, or the coffee shop. And they quietly watch all that is going on around them. They are seen as the “strange” ones. In days gone by people used to refer to them as...

Never Lose Faith In Yourself..... Many years ago I heard a wee saying. Maybe somebody said it to me. Maybe I read it somewhere. I can’t remember. But it went like this…. “The Love of God won’t take you where the Grace of God can’t keep you” You see, often in this lifetime we sit and wonder just exactly what it is that God wants from us. We have doubts and insecurities. We wonder if we and God are ok with each other. Yes, we’re saved. Yes, we’re redeemed. Yes, we’re washed in the blood. All that great stuff was settled at Calvary. But in our daily lifestyle I sometimes sit and think about Jesus. Just about our relationship with each other. Not as God and Christian. Not as Saviour and Saint. But just as person to person. In several of my previous jobs I sometimes had to have an “appraisal” or a “career review”. It was designed to be an open, two-way discussion where me and the interviewer could talk to each other about our work relationship up to that point and our hope and t...

I was sent to work on a building site sometime back in the 1990’s. I was the first one of our team to be sent on to the job to start preparing the site for the other to follow a week or two later. Belfast was experiencing one of its more “excitable” periods at that time and the boss had a chat with me about it. “I know that you’re ok with the area and that you’re sensible enough to deal with any situation should it arise”, he says. “But just take care and be safe. There are other workmen on the site, but you’ll still be on your own. Stay safe until we get there in a week or two”. Aye. Like I needed to be reminded of that. Anyway. I got onto the job and started working away getting things ready for the rest of the squad following behind me. One day, I was sitting in the tea room. Everyone was sitting around quietly reading their newspapers and drinking their tea. No mobile phones, tablets, or electronic gizmos in those days. I was just enjoying my own tea and sandwiches, jus...

“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...