Chile or Chilly?

If you were asked to spell ‘Chile’, what would you say? Chile, chilly or chilli? Please don’t panic as it really is Chile 3 ways. It was this third chilli that I prepared for an evening meal that got me thinking of the three chilly options I’m presenting to you today.

 

The first Chile is officially known as the Republic of Chile. This is a developing country and is one of the most economically and social stable nations in South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica. The Republic of Chile occupies a narrow strip of land between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean and has Peru to the north, the Drake Passage to the south and Bolivia to the east. Santiago is the capital city and Spanish is the national language.

 

My second chilly is when it’s not warm and is typical of a winter’s day when the temperatures drop and there is a definite need for the heating to be put on. Some synonyms for chilly include crisp, brisk, wintry, and snowy. It can also be used in the context of being unfriendly or cold.

 

Our third chilli is the infamous chilli con carne, chilli with meat. Chili con carne is a spicy stew of Mexican origin containing chili peppers, meat which is typically minced beef or steak, tomatoes as well as kidney beans or pinto beans. Other ingredients used can be garlic, onions, and cumin. In our home, a tin of baked beans is often used as well as some tomato passata and a splash of tomato puree or ketchup. 

Off Season Reflections

 

In March 2013, a company called What3Words was incorporated. In April of the same year, it lodged a patent application for technology for e-commerce, deliveries, navigation, emergency services, etc. The company stated that every three-metre square of the world had been given a unique combination of three words. Their purpose was to aid people in discovering where they are and where they are trying to get to. 

The Bible often combines three words to identify a location or a situation in our minds. For instance, if I said ‘Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh’, you would possibly be transported in your mind to a location in the ancient city of David, Bethlehem. It may remind you of the baby Jesus, or as the angel told Mary, ‘the Son of the Highest’ who was born to ‘save his people from their sins’. The three gifts the travellers from ‘the east’ brought were significant and of great value. I think these gifts would have been used by Mary & Joseph to pay for their exile to Egypt with the baby Jesus, but the three gifts are also a unique reminder of who Jesus was and the purpose of his birth. 

Gold has always spoken of wealth, of the best that earth can offer, but the gold in this story also reminds me that the Lord Jesus had a different kind of wealth. It was not the fragile wealth of humanity that could disappear in a moment but the wealth of the creator of the universe. God’s riches are not measured in human currency but are the timeless values of love, truth, justice, peace, kindness and holiness (incidentally, the whole Universe belongs to God as the creator [humans have been entrusted with its management]. So he is also incredibly rich in terms of physical assets). So Jesus, as the Son of God, was immeasurably rich but became poor (through becoming a man, suffering for sin and dying on a cross) so that we, through his poverty, might be rich, 2 Cor. 8:9.

Liverpool - Once in a lifetime!

I live in Liverpool in the United Kingdom, and I see a lot of slogans as I walk around the City Centre - From 'Merseyside to Manhattan', for one. It points people back to the days when great liners regularly left Liverpool heading for the New World. In May 2015, three great ocean-going liners visited the city of Liverpool. If you went to the right spot (The Waterfront, Everton Brow, New Brighton, to name a few locations), you got a great view of 'The Three Queens' as they visited our city to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Cunard shipping line.

At that time, I was preparing to travel to Canada for a couple of weeks and had been contemplating the long journey, which was relatively short compared to the long days at sea when my grandad was a sailor. I left Liverpool at 0800 and reached Toronto at 1930 GMT (1430 local time) the same day. Travel by jet has vastly reduced travelling time and seduced us into thinking that we are just popping across the road when we are travelling across a vast ocean to another continent. I'm not complaining; I love the fact that travel has become so easy. When I was a boy, only a few people travelled these distances and often only 'once in a lifetime'. 

There are some experiences that are still only 'once in a lifetime' - birth, death - I know some people say they have clinically died and come back to life, but that's the exception, not the rule - and well, marriage should also be on the list unless you sadly lose a loved one and decide to remarry. I know that many will not agree with this principle, but from a Christian perspective, it is God's intention that marriage is a lifelong commitment. 

But back to our phrase - 'once in a lifetime'. The term still has some significance. It generally evokes thoughts of exciting things that we would love to do. We think that the chances of them happening are so unlikely that if they did, you would most likely only ever get a one-off chance to do it. We are all different, so for you going to a Garden Party to meet the King at Buckingham Palace might be on the list, or winning the lottery. There is no point in me drawing up a list - my bucket list would probably be vastly different to yours. 

The two main 'once in a lifetime' experiences I mentioned earlier are the two common book stops of human existence i.e. birth and death.  You have no control over the former, and the latter is out of your control unless you choose to forcefully end your life. We all know that this happens from time to time when life becomes unbearable for some individuals, but it's not normal. We need to consider whether our deaths are random events or if there is a higher power in control? 

This topic could get out of control if we explored whether we are just randomly responding to our circumstances, whether we have no real choice but act as our genetic makeup determines or whether there is a balance between our ability to reason, act and choose and God determining events at the same time and somehow allowing us the responsibility of making choices and decisions. I believe the latter is what the Bible teaches. If anyone is interested, I can show them the evidence from the bible.

So, your birthday was set by God, and your mum and dad had a part to play in bringing you into the world. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verses 1 and 2 states, 'To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die'. In Genesis chapter 17, verse 21, God tells Abraham the exact time his son will be born - you might argue that God, knowing everything, was just informing Abraham that his son would be born, not that he was involved in ensuring that it would happen. However, in Genesis chapter 21, verses 1 and 2, it is recorded that the Lord visited Sarah and did for Sarah 'as he had promised,' NASB. She gave birth to a boy. In other words, God played a key role in ensuring that conception took place. In this story, we can see that God didn't just know the future but orchestrated the child's birth. Of course, Abraham had to play his part, but God is the author of life. Every child born into this world results from God giving life. There are other references that clearly indicate that God is in control of the birth of every living being if you care to look at them. 

When we consider our mortality, it is amazing that we exist at all. In all of its disciplines, science has concluded that human existence is incredible. The conditions for our survival on this planet are so finely tuned that it is mind-blowing that everything is just right for life to exist. Our physical anatomy is also a demonstration of excellent design and precision, and we all know that we are so fragile that life can be extinguished in an instant. Who of us has not marvelled that our life has been preserved in circumstances well outside of our control! Whether it be an illness, an accident or unexpected events, we would have to admit there is a hand controlling at times when we cannot. The Bible puts it like this: 'but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways,' Daniel 6. 23. God is in control, but we usually ignore him. Job, one of the oldest writers in the Bible, states, 'In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind,' Job 12. 10. When it comes to the end of life; your death will not just be a random event. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 27 makes it clear 'it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment'. That appointment has been set by God; by the way, it's not the end. It is just the transfer from this life to the next, for the verse states that each of us has an 'after this'. 

There is life after death!

You will stand before God on the day of judgment!

What you do and believe in this life will affect where you are and what your situation is in the next!

So God gave you life, and he has chosen to allow you to live up until now. 

He allows you to choose but has His plans for your life. 

What are you going to do with this information?

As described by the Lord Jesus, one man in the bible continued to make his plans, run his business and amass his wealth with total disregard for God. The Lord Jesus, being the Son of God, gives us an insight into what God was thinking about this man while he was carrying on with his life and ignoring God. God is recorded as saying, 'You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?'  Luke 12. 20. 

A 'once in a lifetime' opportunity faces you now. You can ignore this message, carry on as you are and miss this great offer of salvation. OR 

You could get serious about your life and your future, sort out your priorities and come humbly to God. God loves you. He sent His Son, Jesus, to this world 2022 years ago to die for your sins. If you repent (change your thinking about God and stop disobeying Him) and come humbly to God confessing your sin, He (God) will forgive you, cleanse you and save you. 

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved" - Acts 16:31

For more information or to get in touch, please visit www.seekthetruth.org.uk

A mega mind!

David Butler, who died in 2022, was in many ways a remarkable man.  He was often on television, especially at times of elections, and was blessed with mathematical skills.  As a young boy he spent a lot of time looking at cricket scores and working out batting averages and relished the dates, events and results of cricket matches.  

He came from an intellectually bright family.  His cousin was the well known politician Rab Butler who held many government offices, his father was a Latin professor and his maternal grandfather was the historian, A.F. Pollard.  David did well at school and eventually got a university degree from New College, Oxford.  His time at university was interrupted by the war and he became a tank commander with the Staffordshire Yeomanry and was part of the allied forces that crossed the River Rhine.

He certainly lived an interesting life but is best known for inventing a new science known as psephology.  This derived from the Greek word for ‘pebble’ and came from the ancient practice of the Greeks where pebbles were used to cast their votes. His science was essentially to analyse voting trends and to predict election results. This he did initially on the very first televised election broadcast by the BBC and he did that sort of work until 1979.

Are names significant?

First of all let look at the name of Caesar Augustus

The Roman Emperor who was in power when Jesus was born had many titles some of which have a strange similarity to those given to Jesus. 

The Roman Caesars made claims to deity that the Bible teaches only God can make. 

For instance, Caesar Augustus was  known as:

The Blessed One, 
The Anointed One (the Messiah), 
The Pax Romana - The one who brings peace, 
The Pontifex (i.e. the Priest). 

He was regarded as a god and claimed that at the age of 17 he could bring men to God. He was also called the Divine Son of God in 42 BC at the age of 21. 

History shows that his claims to be divine were not supported by lifestyle, behaviour or power.

Do you have good friends?

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

Isn’t it great to have a good group of friends around you? Do you have school, college or Uni friends that you keep in touch with? What about work colleagues or even friendly neighbours? 

Jesus had a number of good friends too. There were the 12 disciples, as an obvious example. Jesus also had a good relationship with a group of three siblings: Lazarus and his two sisters Mary and Martha. 

In John’s Gospel, we learn of Lazarus’ death. The sisters sent Jesus a message: “Lord, your dear friend is sick.” 

When Jesus heard it, He said, “The final result of this sickness will not be the death of Lazarus; this has happened in order to bring glory to God.” 

Jesus added, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I will go and wake him up.” The disciples replied, “If he is asleep, Lord, he will get well.”Jesus meant that Lazarus had died, but they thought he meant natural sleep. So Jesus said, “Lazarus is dead, but for your sake I am glad that I was not with him, so that you will believe. Let us go to him.” 

Have you ever asked yourself this question - Who am I?

 

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

So many things are different about each of us, but we also have some common traits. 

We are all human - this covers a lot of ground. 

Have you ever stopped to think why we have so many things in common? The Bible explains the reason. God created us ‘in His image’1. This gives us the capacity to be creative, think, and make choices. The first man, Adam, disobeyed one of God's simple commands, and as a result, ‘sin came into the world’2. Let’s be honest; we all know that we do wrong to varying degrees. We all sin, and the effect of our sin on a day-to-day basis is the hurt, pain, ageing and mistakes mentioned earlier. The ultimate effect of sin in all of our lives is death. Death is an awful thing. It separates us from our loved ones, it causes pain and brings dark days into our lives. What we have believed in this life cannot be changed after death. Death is the gateway to the next world, which the Bible describes as being one of two places: Heaven or Hell. Heaven is a place of conscious enjoyment and bliss, Hell of conscious regret and suffering. 

Are you open-minded?

All photos courtesy of Unsplash

If you read my blog regularly, you will know that I write to help people look beyond their present circumstances and think about the big questions about human existence. My advice and thoughts are all from the Bible. You may think that this is narrow-minded and restrictive, but I have discovered that God’s word, the Bible, ‘is truth’, and in reality, it has opened my mind more than it has ever closed it.

But please, don’t just take my word for it. See for yourself whether it makes sense. I believe that the Bible is not a book of theory but that it changes lives through faith in the author, God. The sacred writings, the Bible, state that they 'are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus,’ 2 Tim. 3. 15. Sadly, many people are afraid to read it because they don’t know what it is about or are anxious about the demands it might make on their lifestyle.
 
Think about it like this. What if everything you need for living this life and the next is in the Bible. At the end of the day, the only reason you will miss out is that you never got round to reading it and receiving the gift of life that was offered. Many people have been brainwashed into thinking that the Bible is irrelevant and outdated. As a Christian, I don’t believe that this is true.

I believe that the Bible is God’s message to humans. It reveals things that we could not have discovered through experience or investigation. Having said that, we need to be careful not to assume that the Bible is just a book of legendary tales that have been passed from generation to generation. The truthfulness of the Bible can be verified in many ways. History, archaeology, science, meteorology, and many other disciplines have all demonstrated that the Bible is a factually accurate book. Bear in mind that it was written when most of these areas of expertise were either in their infancy or were undefined disciplines. How did the Bible writers know that there were paths in the oceans, Psalm 8:8, or that all that is needed to sustain life is transported and regulated through blood, Leviticus 17:11? These are only two examples - there are many more! 

The information in the Bible about history, geography, health, the natural world, science, and medicine has to date always been proven to be accurate. This gives me the confidence to believe what it says when it talks about the beginning of life, the cause of evil, suffering and death and the provision that God has made for our individual salvation. Let me leave you with two sample texts – 
 
‘Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men,’ Romans 5:12.
 
‘But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,’ Romans 5:8.
 
In light of my comments, please read the Bible with an open mind. It was written ‘that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name,’ John 20:31.

#LFC Anthem - You'll Never Walk Alone

Ask the average Liverpool fan what the club’s most famous song is 

and I have no doubt the answer would be 'You'll never walk alone'. 

Many supporters find that singing the song creates a feeling of 

passion in their hearts and memories of many great games.

Songs are very emotive and help us store memories. Try stopping someone in the street and asking what song from church they remember. It could be ‘Amazing Grace’, ‘All things bright and beautiful’ or ‘the old rugged cross’. Lots of people will say Psalm 23. That’s because it’s one song that is repeatedly sung at weddings and funerals. It could be the best-known hymn in the United Kingdom, but you are probably thinking, ‘I’ve never heard of it’. That’s a shame, as it has very inspiring words. Actually, the sentiment of 'You'll never walk alone' is not so different.

Verse four of the Psalm says, 'though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me'. It reminds me that we all face the 'valley of the shadow of death' one day. Our path through life is tough at times, and it is certain that we all face death at the end of life. The reason we all die is explained in the Bible by the statement 'the wages of sin is death'.

The Bible makes it clear that physical death is the means of moving from this life to the next. At the end of the psalm, the writer states, 'I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever'. The writer is sure that there is life after death. Other writers in the Bible make it clear that God has revealed that there are two places of destiny. One is called Heaven, and the other is called Hell. You may wonder why the writer of Psalm 23 is so sure that he will be in heaven. The answer lies in the fact that he can say, 'the Lord is my shepherd'.

The Bible records that the Lord Jesus Christ 'came into the world to save sinners'. He said one day, 'I am the good shepherd the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep'. The Bible describes human beings as wandering sheep when it states that 'all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way'. But it also explains that 'the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all’. This means that Jesus took the punishment for our guilt so that we can be forgiven. He rose from the dead on the third day and returned to heaven forty days later, where he is now.

Sadly there are times in life when we do walk alone. But it doesn’t need to be like that. You could know the God of peace in your life today. It is an amazing thing to know God personally and to have His peace in your heart and soul.

How is it possible? There are two parts to this – ‘Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ’. A change of attitude is required. The way you think about yourself, and God will change when you realize that he is right and we are wrong. When you get to that point, you will be ready to trust Jesus Christ as the only one who can forgive sins and eternally bless you.

For more information and further explanations of the message of the bible via videos, blogs and podcasts, please visit www.seekthetruth.org.uk

Helping others!

All photos courtesy of Unsplash 

Everyone needs an uplift especially when things in life seem to be going wrong.  During the American Civil War Abraham Lincoln the President had many decisions to make and a lot of issues to deal with. There came a time when things were not going well for the Northern cause and many people were turning up at the White House with complaints or to give the leader every sort of advice on how he should act.  The pressure and stress upon the President was enormous.

One day a friend came to the White House named Billy Brown. He had grown up with Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois.  He approached  the entrance and was stopped by an aide who enquired whether he had an appointment to see the President.  In those more informal days Billy said that he had no appointment and that he didn’t actually need one as the President would be happy to see him without a previous arrangement.  The aide looked somewhat dubious but went in to the President and said that a Billy Brown was outside.  In about two minutes the aide returned and immediately behind him was President Abraham Lincoln.  He was so pleased to see his old friend and clasped his hand. Billy was then invited to stay for evening meal with the President and his wife Mary.

Lady Jane Grey (1537-1554)

All photos courtesy of Unsplash 

Lady Jane Grey was a remarkable character from the history of our country.  She was known as the ‘Nine Day Queen of England’ and she died at the age of 16.  She was highly educated, very intelligent and was a descendent Henry VII the first monarch of the House of Tudor that ruled through most of the sixteenth century.  Jane was born in 1537 and died in 1554.  She had a personal tutor and was able to speak a number of languages and could converse in Greek and even correspond with intellectuals in that language.

She studied not only languages but also the Word of God, the Bible and came to a settled conviction which led her to faith in Christ.  She believed  the Gospel and knew that the only way to Heaven was through faith alone in Christ alone. She grew up with two sisters, one named Katherine who was very beautiful but not an intellectual like Jane, and Mary who had some kind of physical deformity.  Her parents were deeply ambitious and carried the hope that Jane would one day inherit the throne and become Queen of England.

Starting the year well!!

A New Year brings fresh challenges and opportunities, but life is unpredictable! At times, the variety life brings can be very exciting, but sometimes it’s a bit frightening. Problems at home, business pressures, ongoing health issues and uncertainty! The speed of change and our helplessness to manage events can be disconcerting! Yet, as mere mortals, we cannot control our circumstances and must try to cope with what seems inevitable as well as we possibly can.

There are many situations like this in life. Sometimes illness cannot be avoided, we are affected by what other people do, and often things are out of our control. We are quite skilful at coping most of the time, but sometimes we just have to ‘go with the flow’. I am not a laid-back type of person, so I often wonder what it must be like to be relaxed and unaffected by changeable circumstances.

The ultimate uncontrollable event is death. It creeps up on every one of us. We may prolong life and improve the quality of our twilight years, but we cannot evade death in the long term! But I believe, and the Bible teaches, there is hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.

How will you serve this year?

Omar Nelson Bradley was by any standard or measure a remarkable man.  He was born in Missouri in 1893, and his parents were humble people. Interestingly, he was born on President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, Lincoln is generally considered America’s greatest president, and his memorial in Washington DC is one of the wonders of that great city. Bradley seemed to inherit something of Lincoln’s greatness. 

Bradley learnt early in life the necessity of working hard and of personal integrity. His father died when he was fifteen, and he had to give a lot of help to his mother, who took in lodgers to make ends meet. Despite the work he did at home, he was also a hard-working student, and maybe this trait was due to his late father’s influence as his father had been a school teacher. Bradley graduated from school with high grades and then went to the military training school at West Point. There, he was a hardworking student, an excellent athlete, and a wonderful marksman. Out of a class of 164, he graduated forty-fourth in 1915. Yet he was the first in his class to reach the rank of general.

He was under six feet in height, weighed only 145 pounds, and was prematurely grey. Indeed, he started to go grey in his late teens. He lost some of his teeth in an ice skating accident and had to wear dentures from an early age. Yet he was determined at all times to pursue excellence, and through quiet determination and competency, he rose up the ranks of the army. He spent twelve years as a major, and at times, it seemed he would never rise further, and then he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. He never achieved the rank of full Colonel because  instead, he was made a full General.  

The January Blues!

I read the following comment in the ‘The Guardian’ newspaper quite a while ago - ‘The  dilemma, I’m 22 years old and going into my fourth year in medical school. I have been using study to escape loneliness, insecurity and anxiety that arose from the stress of the course and my failure to establish friends’.

Another person wrote in The Telegraph “‘Life looks good on the surface - so why are we all so lonely?  ‘But you can’t be lonely,’ a friend tells me crossly. ‘You’re out  every night.’ The backhanded compliment makes me laugh. But it also makes me sad. On paper my life sounds glamorous. Denying  you  feel  lonely  makes no  more  sense  than  denying you  feel  hunger’” These are the comments of a high profile journalist who looks as if she is living the high life but most certainly doesn’t feel as if she is.

A new  national  commission  investigating loneliness  in  the  UK,  launched  in  January 2020, shows  that  a  fifth  of  the  population privately  admits  they  are  ‘always  or  often lonely’.  But  two-thirds  of  those people would never  confess  to  having  a  problem  in public. Here is the problem - loneliness is the devastating unseen result of the pressures and emptiness of modern life when people live devoid of real purpose and meaning.