how strong is your church?

Here's a thought:

The church is only as strong as the relationship between you, as a believer, and that member of your local congregation to whom you feel the least inclination to express your love.

Transitions

For the moment, the "About Me" collumn to the right is almost up to date. Abie is now 3 years and four months. However, it's about to become even more out of date in the near future. In September, we plan to move back to Bangkok. I hope to locate a teaching job there before we leave, but even if we don't, English teaching jobs are easy to find for native speakers of the language -- many of them good paying. I will go on working at my present job (as software tester) until a few days before our departure. My wife, Bless, hopes to become involved in YWAM ministries in some capacity. She has worked in leadership and administration with YWAM for 15 or so years. However, she'll try to do it part time, so she can spend time with Abie.

We've already moved out of our own rented house into my dad's place in preparation for the bigger move.

That's all for now...

Allegory [link]

As usual, the long pause in my blogging is because I had a sudden inspiration to write somthing, so I started writing. It's taken me about three weeks, but now I have it in good enough shape to post.

It's exactly as the title says, an allegory. I won't say what it's about; you have to glean that from the story. It does include a lot of the things that have been on my mide, and have been blogging about.

You might be able to read it in one sitting, depending on how fast a reader you are, and how much time you have. It's not long enough to be a novel, but probably too big to be a short story. I guess they call it a "novella".

Anyway, here it is: Allegory

that's the way to do a funeral [link]

I got this off Len's Next Reformation blog, although he got it off Scott Williams' blog It's about a funeral in a Black Baptist church, where the pastor knows how to make the truth come alive.

A "must read"...

Silent Comix [link]

Among other things, I'm an armchair cartoonist.

I've just posted a couple of my cartoon episodes on the site linked above. "Silent Comix" was inspiried by my English teaching. I sort of doodled them in my spare time in pencil, and had a new episode ready each week when I went to my tutoring session with my private studentsl. They're easy to understand drawings that tell a story, but without baloons or written captions. The student simply looks at it and tells me the story in English. I realised, after a while, they were probably worth sharing.

Anyway, if you like looking at pictures, and are too lazy to do a lot of reading, this site may be for you...

WANTED: a Christian version of George Best

They're renaming the Belfast City Airport, "George Best Airport". That is very appropriate, because George Best is one of the only people of hero status I or anyone knows of who is equally honoured by both the Protestant and Catholic communities. Just try naming any public building or place after any other Northern Irish individual, and you'll have problems -- like they had trying to name a new railway bridge recently. Common denominators for both communities are few and far between, but George Best happens to be one of them.

My "wanted notice" (above) is for someone who thoroughly loves the Lord with all their heart, their mind and their strength, and loves his/her neighbour (all of them, including the "Samaritans") as his/her self, is known to be a believer in Yeshua (even if he/she calls Him "Jesus") -- AND is respected by both communities in Northern Ireland. It doesn't have to be for sports, though that could be an in-road.

One major obstacle that such a person would have to overcome is that anyone accepted as a Christian by one side is automatically under suspicion by the other side.

One possible candidate would be C.S.Lewis, if only his Belfast connections were more obvious. Perhaps, with the Narnia films coming out, that could happen, just like with The Titanic.

What Colour of Green are You

You Are Olive Green

You are the most real of all the green shades. You're always true to yourself. For you, authenticity and honesty are very important... both in others and yourself. You are grounded and secure. It takes a lot to shake you. People see you as dependable, probably the most dependable person they know.

What Color Green Are You?