Author: raymond

What should I do if I find myself driving the wrong way down a one-way street (let’s not ask how I got there)? The first thing would be to stop (so I’m not actually breaking the law), better would be

“Do it to Julia!”. If you’ve read George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (I read it in 1983), you’ll know that this cry is what gets Winston, the protagonist, out of Room 101 – where his worst nightmare confronts him. He realises

In the book of Ecclesiastes it says “God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few”. Jesus said we shouldn’t babble like pagans (Matt 6:7), as if God could be impressed by our words

Have you ever looked back and asked yourself ‘was it worth it? Maybe you invested time and energy on some project which went well (or not), and took a moment to reflect: Was it worth it? We never stop to

Have you ever watched a child playing in the room where their parent is sitting? Maybe you remember doing so, but perhaps it was so natural and ordinary that you don’t remember. And as children grow up, they want to

But what do we mean when we say ‘Happy New Year? Is it a command (I order you to be happy this year), a general non-specific expression of hope (that the new year will be kind to you), a prophecy

What is important about Christmas? We make it a time for family and festivities, reminding ourselves of what is important in life. We make it a time for good will, and we support initiatives and charities working with people who

Are you ready for Christmas? When I ask that, do you immediately think of presents (which you need to buy), cards (which you need to send), relatives (that you need to invite or plan to visit), decorations (which need to

I gave someone a test this week. I wasn’t trying to trip them up or catch them out – I genuinely wanted to know if they could do something, and if they could how they did it. We sometimes shy

When John the Baptist told the people of his day that they weren’t living right and needed to behave differently, some of them protested ‘We have Abraham as our Father’ (Lk3:8) – as if that was enough. It’s a kind