The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 11,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
As we look at the world around us, we see so much suffering, and so much injustice. There are a number of ways we can react to this suffering. We can get involved in a charity which seeks to address the problem. Alternatively we may choose to join an action group which seeks to resolve the problem directly through campaigning for justice. Which is the best way? Sometimes we hear someone say that we need to get to the root the problem not just apply sticking plasters. Someone else will say that this is all very well, but until the problem is eliminated, we must meet the needs through compassion and love. I the rest of this blog I will say that we need both approaches. Continue reading “Compassion or Justice”
The world is saddened by the death of Nelson Mandela. I could say so much about this man, but the best tribute I can bring is to remember some of the words he spoke and then to act on them. He was only a man, and like us all his life is limited, but his words live on …
No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. (1994 from his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom)
Here are some more of the words he spoke which we should remember and take to heart: …… Continue reading “Nelson Mandala’s words live on”
I was in Sri Lanka visiting a mobile clinic run by Heidi. I had to drive up a muddy track with trees on one side and a drop on the other side. As I was driving up the hill an ox cart came the other way. Heidi thought the situation was hilarious! As I got hot and bothered trying to manoeuvre so the ox could get by, Heidi laughed and laughed! It was typical of her sense of humour.
It all started about 22 years ago when Derek Brown, our church leader, asked me to speak to Heidi and see Continue reading “Heidi goes to Sri Lanka”
Our senses were overwhelmed at every level. Multiple smells filled the air – air we could almost taste. All around were noises; people shouting and noises from machinery, and animals. We were jostled along the narrow streets – no place for the agrophobic. We could feel the mud squelch under our feet. Poverty and degradation dominated. We were being shown around the largest slum in Bombay (Now known as Mumbai).
And yet we were told that people like bank managers lived here. Decent property is so expensive in Mumbai that many prefer to live here, rather than commute from distant suburbs into the city centre. First perceptions are deceiving. It is not all poverty and deprivation. The slums are vibrant places. There is a sense of community that is missing among the modern apartment blocks.
How did I end up in a hotel room with a Swedish missionary lady! I must add, rather quickly, that my wife Christine was also present, and that we slept the night fully clothed. Things started going wrong when we discovered that the plane which was to take us back to Colombo had been hijacked by a bank for their own use. We had no option but to travel back by car. We arrived at Vavuniya late at night and found a Sri Lankan “rest house” with only one room available for the three of us.
We were flying low over the forests and jungles of Sri Lanka to Jaffna. It was a six seater plane – and that included the pilot’s seat. I was in the copilot’s seat and I thought to myself, “I had better watch how he flies the plane, because if he has a heart attack I will have to land it myself”! In the back of the plane was my wife Christine, and Pastor Leslie and Shanthi Matthews. Continue reading “Visiting Jaffna”
Compassion and Justice 