For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
If you move in vaguely Christian circles, or if you are part of the LGBTQ community, you have probably heard of the Nashville Statement. And if you have heard of the Nashville Statement, you almost certainly have an opinion on it. The Nashville Statement was the brainchild (I almost wrote brainlesschild, but I have reminded... Continue Reading →
I hear it often. Whenever conversation turns to religion, as it occasionally does, somebody invariably makes the following statement: “After all, all religions basically teach the same thing.” It is normally stated in such a way that this should be completely self-evident. Except it isn’t. Entirely by the way, isn’t it bizarre that social... Continue Reading →
Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, once made the claim that “joy can only be real if people look upon their life as a service and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness”. Much of the current research into human resources management would bear this out... Continue Reading →
The problem with caring is that eventually you get hurt. Pain and passion are, for all intents and purposes, synonymous. When you give your heart away, it will get handed back to you in pieces. It is as inevitable as the tug of the moon on the tides. Life is not to be found in... Continue Reading →
When I was 15 or 16, and sitting in church, my Sunday School teacher (I do not remember which one) – during a pause in the sermon, whispered to me: “One day that could be you up there.” Perhaps it was a spontaneous whim that compelled his words; I doubt he remembers saying them to... Continue Reading →
Our country is facing a real crisis of leadership. It seems that nowadays leaders refuse to take responsibility for their actions; there is little remorse shown when they are caught engaging in morally dubious behaviour, and instead find ways to justify themselves and blame others. And it is not just a political predicament either. Our... Continue Reading →
Most of us, at some point in our lives, will be guilty of judging a political, cultural or social group by its hypocrites – those whose actions and lifestyles contradict the values they purport to endorse. As unfair as it is to do so, it is perfectly understandable. Hypocrisy is deplorable, and was one of... Continue Reading →
The first time I read Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, I was hooked. His insights were a revelation to me, a young man too much at the mercy of his own wild emotions. One of the most profound gifts the book gave me as I began to give his ideas more than... Continue Reading →
In 2005 (http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en), writer Chimamanda Adichie spoke powerfully about the danger of having a single story: “Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanise. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that... Continue Reading →
Vapors In The Wind 