The crossroads in life I was driving our teen daughter and her friends to a church camp. They were all between 16-21 years old. The camp would be at a beach site, promising joy and fun to any young heart nearing the end of a sun-filled summer holiday. The air was brimming with excitement as…
Suffering for your gods is your only purpose. Gorr, the person who became the God Butcher in Marvel’s 2022 movie Thor: Love and Thunder, inadvertently said something more profound than what he perhaps intended. Let’s take a step back to where Gorr’s bitterness, resentment and hatred of the gods all started. Spoiler alert! In this…
I remember sitting on the field we called “the Postage Stamp” in matric, hearing someone talking about adoption, and deciding in my heart that I would adopt one day. I was 17 years old at the time and nowhere near getting married or having children, but something was birthed in me at that moment. Later,…
The sheep-shearing The cancer diagnosis came first. Then the treatment. With the treatment, a shape-shift in my appearance happened. It was totally expected. The weight loss was welcomed and a bit intentional, as I am following a particular diet. For the first time in many years, I shed the unwanted midlife bulges and felt much…
How to describe this God of the Bible with a love so deep and wide? It’s almost intangible, not understandable, got to learn to grapple with this God who is love – but not love alone. There is justice, there is peace, there is jealousy there as He poured out His wrath on His only…
Sharing the news It was a clumsy affair. As a counsellor, one would think that I would have all the textbook answers on how to share the news. But no. I first wanted to contact each loved one in person, wanting to make them feel OK about the dreaded news. I soon became overwhelmed by…
I am in a coffee shop, one of my favourite places to be. Across from me sits a young married couple. They seem happy, casual and comfortable in each others’ company. Decently dressed; fashionable but not pretentious, they’re discussing something everyday-ish, perhaps going through the to-do list for the rest of the day. I can’t…
Daddy Long Legs My wife tells this funny story of how she once chased a guy much taller than her after realising that he lied to her to get some money. This happened years ago after we got married. I remember how I thought she was both brave and, just possibly a little unwise during…
If so many Christians differ in interpreting politics through a Biblical lens, can the Bible really have authority? Good question. Questioning By way of example, unlike Marxism and Islam, the Christian faith allows and encourages questioning to improve our interpretation of the scriptures. This openness will always result in some diversity of opinion, which may…
I am writing this in my third and final week of a training engagement in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I am slightly ashamed to admit that I did not know what the capital of Saudi was until I was offered an opportunity to provide Data Management training there. I also had to write “Riyadh” several times…