Marching Forth!

About 11 years ago a video went viral of a man in Yosemite cheering and weeping over a "double-rainbow" before him in the valley.  Amid the awe and wonder (perhaps heightened by chemicals) the fellow asked, " What does it mean ?"  The man recognised the beauty of colour, design and symmetry, and for the question he asked the Bible provides the answer.  It is more than a natural phenomenon explained scientifically but proof of a Creator with a distinct purpose in mind. After God judged the world with a great flood of water, He remembered Noah and his family and made a covenant with them and the earth.   Genesis 9:12-16  reads, " And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:  13  I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.  14  It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the e...

I remember counsel I received as a new pastor, how the role requires an ability to "take it."  This was not speaking of the call to pastoral ministry but what is required at times when dealing with conflict and problems.  Ministry involves people, and every person is a sinner--including me.  When Christians were taking their personal gripes before secular courts Paul said in  1 Corinthians 6:7 , " Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated ?"  There is a point when we must humbly choose the high road when someone is giving you a piece of their mind and does not know the whole story.  People in leadership will find themselves criticised, questioned, judged and opposed.  Those who cannot accept this reality are better off doing anything else than fighting for respect or trying to justify yourself. It was good advice to...

There is beauty in simplicity.  When we read and share the word of God we must avoid the trap of oversimplification.  Attempts to simplify can remove critical information to aid our understanding of God, ourselves and our situation.  For instance, I have heard many people criticise the prophet Elijah for despairing of life after he was threatened by Jezebel.  "After seeing the miraculous power of God provide fire from heaven and the great victory over the prophets of Baal, why did Elijah flee because of Jezebel?"  Oh, I think we could look at our own lives and find contradictions concerning faith in God and fear of man.  The trouble is, this hardly touches on what was really going on in Elijah's heart, and we can know this without a doubt because Elijah himself said so. Whilst it is true the murderous threat of Jezebel prompted Elijah to go into the wilderness, this wasn't the half of it.  Remember what Elijah had endured to this point:  he had b...

Today we observed Mother's Day in Australia.  It can be a day of remembrance and reflection, a reminder to reach out in gratitude and thankfulness, and an official opportunity to give credit where it is due.  None of us would be here today without a mother who carried and bore us, and those who have nurtured and cared for faithfully by a mother have much to be thankful for. The love of a mother is a special one, and I was reminded today how God knows all about it.  God is our Father, yet all dads and mums are a gift to children from Him.  Jesus said in  Luke 13:34 ,  " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing !"  Jesus used an analogy from nature, but who created chickens with the brooding instinct, to gather and guard her little ones?  It follows then the good care, affect...