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...

My apprenticeship was a particularly intense and extremely valuable one. I worked for one of the larger and more well known companies in the city at that time and that brought with it the advantage of all the apprentices being rotated around other jobs within the company so as to gain a wide range of experience During the first couple of years everything was overseen by the tradesman. He ordered all of the materials. He checked everything. He monitored everything. And along with that he was teaching us all the things that we needed to know in order to become a competent tradesperson. Soon, as we moved into the last phase of our apprenticeships a subtle change came along. Almost imperceptable at first, but suddenly it seemed as if we were being challenged about out workskills. Any time that I went to the tradesman to enquire about a problem he would turn it back on me and ask me what I myself would do to sort the problem out. He wouldn’t help but he watched as we tried to solve a ...

I have been involved with several different projects over my years of being with churches, projects and christian groups. And, within the context of my faith/life, in all these ventures I only ever tried to be of some use to God and His people along the way. Learning about Him and His church was all I ever wanted. It was never done for money, or gain, or privilege. And the only thing I ever hoped to gain from it all was a sense that I was being useful to God. A lot of the projects went well for their time. And I really enjoyed them. But there came a time when I began to wonder what my purpose was in being there anymore. The initial buzz just didn’t seem to be as strong as it was and things started feeling as if I was getting in people’s way. So, I moved along and found another little project to get involved in. And, again, it ran its course and my time in that project came to an end and I moved on again. So, the projects all ended. And, if I was being honest with myself, I felt...

Many years ago I got the opportunity to return to higher level education. I was an adult by this time and had figured that my days of academia were long gone, apart from the occasional training course related to work. But no. Lo and behold, there I was sitting in a classroom with other like minded adults all eager to start a course of higher level education which would lead to a meaningful, relevant and tangible qualification. The academic year duly progressed along and I found myself at the end of the year ready to sit my exams. I passed them all except one. And this one was the most important one – Mathematics. I failed it. And miserably so. The tutor said that the only saving grace was that my grade was so low that he knew I definitely wasn’t cheating. I wasn’t the only one who failed. Most of the people who failed were mature students who had returned to education after having been away from it for a while. And we were all given the chance to re-sit the exam again. But this...

Over the years I have fitted, removed, and worked on many, many washing machines. All sorts from twin-tubs to automatics. From front-loaders to top-loaders. I have replaced inner drums, replaced outer seals and cleaned out filters. I remember when my family got their first ever automatic washing machine all those years ago. Mum put a wash load into the machine and Dad and I went and got two kitchen chairs and sat and watched the machine go through its whole washing cycle. We sat and watched as the little timer dial turned through it’s program   and the clothes plopped and sloshed their way around the drum as the soapy water splashed against the funny shaped window in the door. Never in the history of mankind have two intelligent men ever been held so engrossed by something so simple as the actions of an automatic washing machine. I thought I had seen it all. Washing machine life would never be the same again. So, we recently bought a new washing machine. And for the ver...

Sadly, on a few occasions in my life, I have had to make a stand for something that I knew I was going to lose out on. But the stand had to be made and the loss had to be taken. Because the fight wasn’t about me. It was about someone else. And I had to go to make the stand, face the opposition, and take the hits so that an innocent party would win. And, boy, am I so glad that I did it. For the person that I was standing in place off won every time. You see, facing fights like these, even if you know that you’re going to lose, is not about revenge, or superiority, or might, or justice.   This sort of a fight is different. It’s about a principle. Win or lose, you have to stand and fight. But, it was also during these difficult times that I discovered new things about myself. I found new strengths that I never knew I had. These strengths were difficult to discover. For they involved a lot of tears, a lot of stress and a massive sense of isolation. I have never felt so isolated...

  When I was a child bicycles were a rarity. Not many kids had them. I used to see old men cycle to work on their old black bicycles with the thumb operated bell and the lights that worked from a dynamo. The lights faded and brightened according to the speed they were riding at. Then one year, everyone got a bicycle for Christmas. I didn’t. We got other great stuff. But during the springtime as the lighter nights came in all the kids were cycling around the streets of the neighbourhood. Then one night my dad came home from work with a bicycle. It was awful. It was of the old type that I watched the older men cycle to work in. It was terrible. My heart dropped. My dad found it laying around at his workplace. It had been laying there for years. It would have been a 1940’s type bicycle with a little dynamo fitted that you had to twist in against the wheel to make it work. It needed new tyres and plenty of oil to free up the stiffened bearings. It looked terrible when s...