on connections

One of my good friends is an entrepreneurial, go-getter kind of marketer guy. I love the man dearly but there are a few areas where our ideologies are very different. He’s a dynamic, risk-taking kinda guy, I like to play it safe; he likes organising, I like following, etc.

So once when he explained the importance of knowing the right people, of connections, you can guess what I thought. It was something along the lines of “Pah! A man shouldn’t have to rely on connections, he should work for things!” Continue reading “on connections” →

05/01/2013 0

on what christians are best at

We are the Church. We are the bride of Christ. We are a light to the world, a nation of priests, a royal people who were brought out of darkness so that we could share the light with other people. We are God’s people, we are the children of Abraham, we are the co-heirs of the Son of God, we are the ones who can see in Christ the very image of the invisible God.

Yet how far short we fall! Continue reading “on what christians are best at” →

04/03/2013 0

on seeing jesus for the first(ish) time

What did you see when you first saw Jesus?

We saw a baby who the angels said would become the Saviour. We really shouldn’t have left our flocks to see him, but how could we not? (Luke 1:11) Continue reading “on seeing jesus for the first(ish) time” →

03/25/2013 0

on being a good man

Remember that scene at the end of Saving Private Ryan? An old James Ryan, having remembered all the hardships and sacrifices that were endured to bring him home, kneels in front of the grave of Captain John Miller, the man who saved his life. It seems Miller’s dying words to him, “earn this,” have stayed with him all his life.

Ryan turns to his wife and says “tell me I’m a good man.”

What if the answer had been “no”? What if Ryan had tried but failed? What if he had never tried at all? Continue reading “on being a good man” →

03/21/2013 0

on confidence

The phrase ‘girls like a guy who’s confident’ is something I’ve been hearing a lot recently. I’m sure most of you guys have heard it at some point in your life, either from your dads or older guys.

My gut reaction whenever I hear that phrase is “I’m confident, I make decisions all the time!” But I’m starting to realise that being confident and assertively putting your foot down are two different things (and those of you who know me would probably chuckle at the thought of me putting my foot down). Continue reading “on confidence” →

03/10/2013 0

on neglected commanders of the roman world: mithridates VI

Sources Appian, Mithridatic Wars (46-50); Plutarch, Life of Sulla; Cassius Dio (30-37)

His time Mithridates’ world was a time of war, when the Roman Republic was rapidly expanding its power through military conquest and economic strong-arming. The old Greek-speaking kingdoms established by Alexander the Great’s generals, which till now had dominated the known world, were on the wane, fighting a losing battle against Rome. Mithridates ruled the kingdom of Pontus on the southern shore of the Black Sea, yet another Greek-speaking kingdom among many in the region. Though relatively small it was rich, and a perfect target of Rome’s depredations. Continue reading “on neglected commanders of the roman world: mithridates VI” →

03/06/2013 0

on seeing

There’s this really awesome moment in 2 Kings chapter 6 when the prophet Elisha and his servant find themselves surrounded by Aramean soldiers, on orders to bring them alive back to their king. The servant wakes up one morning and finds the city encircled with horses and chariots, and so he goes to Elisha and asks “what do we do?” You can almost hear the panic in his voice. Elisha then prays that his servant’s eyes will be opened, and then and there the man sees – he sees the armies of the living God surrounding the Arameans. The latter, of course, fail their mission. Continue reading “on seeing” →

02/28/2013 0

on alexander the great and broken cisterns

The historians tells us that Alexander the Great was driven by great yearnings. He had a yearning to cross into places his people had never gone before; he had a great yearning to know and understand the world around him; he had a great yearning to live up to his ancestor Achilles and always be the best at everything; he had a great yearning to conquer and explore. Continue reading “on alexander the great and broken cisterns” →

02/21/2013 0

on filling the earth and subduing it

In my last post I talked about the research I did for a talk on evolution. Now while it was a very humbling experience it also made one thing clear: our origins matter. Not just in the sense of physically how we were created/how we evolved, but also the very way we think about it, how we approach it, the assumptions and ideas we bring to the table without even knowing it. When approaching evolution and creationism a naturalistic mindset rules out any talk of the supernatural, while a dogmatic mindset rules out any deviation from Genesis 1. Origins matter, because they often determine your conclusions. Continue reading “on filling the earth and subduing it” →

02/08/2013 0

on learning and faith

I recently gave a talk on evolution and creationism. It involved some very challenging research, with some pretty challenging implications.

I was raised in the tradition of literal six-day creationism, but reading about the other ideas of creationism (and evolution) gave me a lot to think about. What did God really do? Did it really happen in six days? Is it really that important? Was it literally like that? If not then how literal are other parts of the Bible? Did God use the imagery in Genesis merely to speak to what we know? What then are the implications for the other imagery of Scripture? What is God? Continue reading “on learning and faith” →

02/06/2013 1