Endurance

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The end is nigh - or is it?

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The end is nigh - or is it?

It’s happened yet again.

I had just finished teaching a course last month on the book of Revelation. When I teach on eschatology (events of the end times), I always make a point of mentioning how many times the return of Christ has been mistakenly predicted or “prophesied” by people.

Even if the predicted event does not occur, which it never does, two things can be predicted with absolutely certainty. First, no one will ever apologize for getting it wrong. Second, the name of the Lord will once again be brought into disrepute.

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The runner

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The runner

There are a lot of things that intrigue me about running.

For one thing, why do so many people enjoy doing it? It lacks all the fun and fellowship of team sports and can be a lonely pursuit.

Though running is often done alone, it can be quite competitive. If you don’t believe me, just get around some runners talking about their personal bests or posting their latest times and running routes on social media.

I took up running as a young man partly because I was pretty uncoordinated and not great at other sports. It was something I could do to get into shape. At one point, I ran quite a lot and was reasonably good for my age. Less so lately, though I haven’t given up!

But what really interests me is that the Bible says some significant things about running.

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The in-between

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The in-between

There are lots of ways to ask the question.

Why do bad things happen to good people?

Why do Christians suffer?

Why does God not seem to answer prayer?

Why am I going through this?

Is God still with me?

The answer, which is never going to be complete in this life, boils down to one phrase: life in the in-between.

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The valley of tears

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The valley of tears

Philip Logan’s journey led Elaine and I this past week to a hospital room in North Shields, an English town between Newcastle and the North Sea coast.

His story began here:

 “On the morning of the 20th of November 2011, I begrudgingly accepted an invitation to go to church. I was 27 years old, with wild dreadlocked hair and filled with anger. I walked into the meeting, which was held in a dated hotel function room in Newcastle, England. That day, the Holy Spirit took hold of me, and I walked to the altar trembling from the power that seemed to be surging through my body..."

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How firm a foundation

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How firm a foundation

Back in 2010, work began on a massive recreation centre in our small city of Owen Sound. Everything was on target until the contractors hit a layer of quicksand.

Work was delayed for the better part of a year while engineers constructed concrete platforms which would carry the weight of the building given the presence of the quicksand. Needless to say, millions of dollars were added to the project’s cost.

If the work had not been done, nothing would have happened for a while. But at some point, the whole thing would have started to tilt or sink.