# Series (Page 104)

Since Pheidippides is a name that doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, it is hardly surprising that he is best remembered by one guy as ‘that guy who ran 26 miles and they named the Olympics after him.’ No wonder such conversations, like Pheidippides himself, suddenly stop dead. In fact, he was the runner who took the news of the Greek’s victory over Persia to the people in Athens. He ran the 26 miles from Marathon (the site of the…

There’s a silly joke that tells about a lady on an assembly line. One day she broke down in tears and couldn’t be consoled. When she finally could speak, she confessed to her co-workers that she had considered murdering her husband but couldn’t go through with it. “It is wonderful that you felt you could share that with us,” one of the ladies said. “And feel free to cry when you need to; we understand.” Incredulous, the lady snapped back,…

Larger than life writer, Harold Hill, in his autobiographical book, ‘How to live like a King’s Kid,’ tells the story about taking a carload of friends for a ride. He had recently become a Christian and he and his new-found Christian friends were traveling through town, when he heard a terrible noise coming from under his car. The only thing he thought appropriate to do was to praise the Lord as the car rolled noisily on. Wanting to make sure that…

When John 3:16 was surpassed by “Judge not, lest ye be judged” as the most quoted verse in the Bible, it really did confirm a shift in religious thinking. But when it comes to our need for comfort and hope we still look to the words of an ancient song to settle our hearts and lift our spirits on our worst days. Who hasn’t heard these beautiful words: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want”? These, the opening…

I read a report that claimed that the world’s 22 richest men own more wealth than all 325 million women in Africa combined. If anything shows the disparity between rich and poor, this does. But if you talk to the average citizen in one of our developed countries, you may get the impression that we are struggling. Of course, compared to our developing country cousins we are doing rather well. It has been said that if all the money in…

Back in the day Melanie sang that song, “I got a brand-new pair of roller skates, you got a brand-new key…” I remember debating one of my siblings as to what the ‘key’ was supposed to be. I argued that it was one of those symbolic keys that was hung on the walls of every second house in the neighbourhood. Those key shaped mirrors given by the proud parents to their child who had turned 21 at some stage. Counter…

One day you wake up and realise that life is short. You start to process the future differently. Too much time has been wasted. You must refocus and have a new vision for the future. But old habits die hard. Going in a new direction is hard work. What must a Christian do? Goals? A ‘to-do’ list? All good, but what I am suggesting instead is a ‘Reality-Reset.’ Our lives are consumed with the seen. We keep our heads down…

Remember the song with the repetitive “N-n-n-n-nineteen”? It told us that the average age of a combat veteran in the Vietnam War was 19. Vietnam War photos scream ‘youthfulness,’ that’s for sure. My father went off to WWII being 10 years older than that. I am sure that the first thought that went through his head when bombs started raining down around him was, “When can I get out of here?” He never spoke of it. He had favourite stories…

Trigger warning—this might sound like an anti-booze diatribe! Eighteen is the legal age to buy alcohol in New Zealand. Like some other Western countries, it is considered a rite of passage into manhood to go out and get wasted. You would think that it was tantamount to a Sunday picnic the way some talk. The bits about fights, rapes, domestic violence, car accidents and suicides seem to be left out of the ‘war stories.’ As far as I can tell…

When I ask young people what lessons they have learned the hard way, they speak of fake friends, wasted money and lost opportunities (usually all in the same sentence). It is naturally hard for them to understand that life is God’s classroom, and that much pain can be avoided if godly instruction is heeded first. Some things are best NOT learned the hard way. But they are best learned the hard way than not at all. So, here are my “Seventeen…