These Lively Oracles

Revolutions are seldom good. I have found in my readings of some of them that the people who were involved at the start, with a call for an uprising, have seldom had any thoughts or ideas of an end-plan. There would be the fighting, the patriotism, the deaths and the suffering. And then there will be a political and social vacuum for some opportunist leader to come and try to take over and form a new rulership for a social movement or country. But things would never be the same after that. And yet, revolutions are all the same at their core. They start with a national and patriotic outcry, then a lot of bloodletting and fighting. And then, if the revolutionaries lose they will be put down, or else if the revolutionaries win they will all stand and look at each other and wonder what to do next. Well, these were my uneducated thoughts as I recently sat in the Musée de l'Armée (The Army Museum), in Paris, France looking at the final resting place of Napoleon Bonaparte. It was a very p...

It has happened to me a couple of times. My work for God became an idol to me. It so easily happened and I didn’t even notice it had happened until something made me stop and take a look around at what I was doing. And it can happen so easily to anyone else, too. You see, I became so involved in what I was doing that I forgot about the person that I was doing it for. Whether it was driving a bus, teaching some group or other, or whatever the reason, I had forgotten that the main reason for my doing it was to worship Jesus. And I see it happening to others all around me also. People get involved in music ministry and they become so engrossed in the music, the sound, and the instruments that somehow the central person of their worship gets side-lined. And it can happen to pastors, preachers, ministers, caretakers, drivers and choir singers too. They can become so engrossed in their various ministries that they forget about Jesus, and their mind becomes focused in whichever activity...

It’s that time of year again when those of us who have gardens are outside mowing our lawns, trimming our hedges and thinking of the flowers and shrubs. And it is no different in our household. The lawns have been trimmed and overgrowing hedges cut back. But this year we decided to also do some much needed maintenance that hadn’t been done in a couple of years. So, off we went to get some super-strength disinfectant for our driveways and out came the power washer. And a few weekends was spent caring for the driveways, patios and pathways. But during the course of our tasks we noticed a little shrub that was almost dead. It was an Acer tree and it had been a lovely coloured bush in years gone by. But now there were no blooms on it and the little wooden container that it was in was totally rotted away. My wife thought about discarding it but I wanted it keep so that we could replant it and give it another chance. So we found a new pot, added some new soil and put the shrub into it. If ...

Life throws so many unexpected experiences at us. I remember once saying to some friends that if someone sat us down on our eighteenth birthday and showed us a movie of how our lives were going to work out, then each one of us would all chose to live our lives very differently. But the reality is that God’s marvellous will and destiny is worked out through our own life mistakes and achievements whether we recognise it, or not. The problems we have with “life decisions” are that, firstly, we are never allowed to know what an outcome would have been if we had chosen a different decision. And secondly, we are not allowed to know what God’s alternatives are when we are considering His work within us. God never ever shows us the “what ifs”. Certainly, we can make educated guesses about daily scenarios and decisions. But when it comes to God’s will for our lives He doesn’t show us everything at once. His will is revealed one step at a time. And even then,  we can only really see it ...

At various times over the years on my various church visits I always liked to look around at the people and the congregation. I loved to see the various connections that people made with each other. Music groups, people who are borrowing or lending books, various groups of friends all whispering to each other, etc. Whilst there were those who loved to interact and socialise with each other, there were others who just liked to come along and, like me, just sit and watch the others talk and communicate amongst. And the day of Jesus’ crucifixion was another day like any other gathering in Jerusalem. The Roman guards favoured the whippings, beatings and crucifixions of criminals. And people came to watch and stare at the spectacle. But there were others in the crowds that particular day 2000 years ago. There were the Disciples of Jesus who were fearful about what was to happen next now that their leader was dead. Some of Jesus’ family were there also - His mother, His brothers and si...

…..Ok. Who didn’t think of Lee Marvin singing that song? The song, “I Was Born Under A Wand’rin’ Star” was a No 1 song in the U.K. hit parades in 1970. It came from the stageshow and movie, Paint Your Wagon. The Bible also makes reference to a wandering star. But it is in reference to false teachers… Jude 1:13 “They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever”. Indeed the Bible uses the word several times and in the most cases use it within the context of people who wander from place to place, who never commit, and who spread false teaching and dissent among God’s people. But this is not the context that I’m thinking of. I am thinking of my thoughts that continually bounce around from subject to subject within the bible, always looking for some things that all link together in a common thread. And when devising these blogs, I can tell you, my mind certainly races around the most unexpecte...