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Lessons in Maturity: Lactose intolerance
Here is an offbeat observation of real life imitating Scripture at a physical level: Lactose intolerance is standard as people mature unless it is removed by adverse conditions. In Northern Europe over many generations the gene that normally activates lactose intolerance was removed by natural selection due to the dependence on cow’s milk in the […]
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Pruning Fruit Trees
We only have two fruit trees in our garden. We have had both of them for going on four years now. Neither I nor my wife would consider ourselves horticultural experts. Indeed about the only things I know about looking after fruit trees I learnt from reading passages in the bible. Particularly John 15. So […]
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John’s Wonderful Gospel
“In the beginning was the Word….” So starts the sublimest of the Scriptures. For me there is no greater writing than the Apostle John’s in all of the Scriptures. In this Gospel he explains the deepest of truths in the simplest of terms. The first 12 chapters of John’s gospel consists of a series of […]
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THE Royal Wedding
Royal weddings like today’s between Kate Middleton and the second in line to the throne of England, Prince William, come closer than any other event to the Royal Wedding that I am looking forward to. Kate comes from a family with no hope of becoming royalty because of their background, yet she is chosen by […]
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The difference between tolerance and support
Our children go to a Church of Ireland based school. Most of the schools in Ireland are run on religious lines and the ethos of the school very much depends on the religion that is sponsoring it. Unfortunately there are very few if any evangelical run schools in Ireland and none near us. So schools […]
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Heaven
Sometimes classical music describes heaven better than words. Faure’s Pavane, Beethoven’s 5th Piano Concerto, Mozart’s clarinet concerto, the list goes on and on. There is something in the eternal depth of the relationships that we will experience, the striking and fantastic adventures, the discovery of new worlds and aspects of creation – all these and […]
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Format the same, experience different
I believe it is a sign that the church is being led by the Holy Spirit that I can be in worship one Sunday and be in a march across the county and the next Sunday in a love-in holding hands with angels (ok my imagination, indulge me) and knowing intimacy with the Holy Spirit as […]
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Visions during Worship
Corporate worship where God is moving in the Spirit is amazing. I am sure all sorts of things are happening while we worship that we are probably only dimly aware of. For sure there is more going on than most of us realise. This morning during worship I had a series of visions – or […]
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Books and the Bible: The Shack
I’ve spent the last many years not reading books except the Bible and those connected to work with few exceptions (The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbons being one notable one). However this year instead of my normal reading of the bible in a year (like for the […]
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Forgiveness
From chapters 9 – 11 of Romans, Paul wrestles with the mysteries of pre-destination. Finally at the end he seems almost to throw his hands up in the air and admit he can’t explain it. This reaction seems triggered by the remarkable conclusion he comes to in Romans 11:32: “For God has committed them all […]
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