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Broomhill Nazarene, 95 Broomhill Drive, Glasgow (2026)

31/05/2026

The two men, Bill and Bob, had been living next door to each other for well over a year. In all that time they had hardly spoken or interacted in any way. In fact, they both felt that the other was somewhat standoffish and extremely bad mannered. When they had first moved in, Bill had been relaxing in his garden when he heard Bob rummaging about on the other side of the fence. Bill, being a sociable type, wrapped on the fence with his knuckles and called out. ‘Good morning neighbour.’ There was no reply, so Bill wrapped harder and called louder but still there was no response. ‘How rude,’ thought Bill. A few days later Bob was coming through his front gate, returning from some errands, when he spotted Bill from next door, standing in the bay window. Bob smiled and waved but Bill just seemed to stare at him for a moment before turning away. ‘How rude,’ thought Bob. And so it continued with one ignoring the other, though all the while both men had very congenial relationships with their neighbours on the other side of their properties. Although the cause was unknown, Bill and Bob’s feud was notorious and talked about in the area. Despite the fact that the two men never spoke to each other, they did not hesitate to tell anyone who would listen just how rude the other was. It was pretty much accepted that the feud would continue until one of the men moved or passed away. And that probably would have been the case had it not been for the neighbour who lived across the street from the two men. She thought she might have an inkling as to what the problem may be. So one day when Bill was standing in his front garden, seemingly enjoying the warm spring sunshine, Bob appeared and opened his squeaky front gate. Bill instinctively turned towards the sound, then quickly turned away, and Bob spotting Bill out of the corner of his eye made pains not to look in his direction. By this time the neighbour had crossed the road and was waving and calling out. ‘Good morning gentlemen.’ Bill turned towards the sound of her voice and Bob turned around to better see her. ‘I wonder if you both would like to join us for lunch on Sunday?’ she continued. Both men lived alone and seldom saw their families so the opportunity of a homecooked Sunday lunch was not something to be taken lightly, and despite the presence of their nemesis they both accepted. Sunday arrived and they all sat around the table, the food was served and the man of the house said grace, as the twin eight-year-olds held their knives and forks in anticipation. The meal progressed in silence for a while then one of the children asked, ‘Have you always been blind Bill or did you have an accident?’ ‘That is Mr Winters to you Lindsy,’ interjected the mother before Bill could answer. Lindsy frowned, ’but everyone calls him Blind Bill.’
‘Blind Bill?’ Asked Bob, staring wide-eyed at the child.
Lindsy nodded, ‘Yes, just like everyone calls you deaf Bob.’
‘Blind? why didn’t you say something, you old fool,’ demanded Bob turning toward Bill.
‘And how would you have heard me if I did, you numpty.’ replied Bill.
Despite the harshness of the two men’s words the children giggled and the parents smiled.
From that day everything changed, Bill and Bob became firm friends, and in a short time Bill became Bob’s ears and Bob became Bill’s eyes.
The moral of this story is of course, that things are seldom entirely as they seem. Two men who were renowned for their symbiotic friendship wasted over a year because they trusted and excepted their own assumptions.
‘Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbour’s face yet be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbour.’ Matthew 7:1-5 MSG

24/05/2026

He had been driving around the carpark for what seemed like a very long time, and it was running perilously close to the time of his appointment. He was chastising himself for not anticipating how busy it was going to be. He drove into the overflow area and then back to the main carpark, his pace was slow, as he scanned the area watching to see if any car was about to leave. To add to his stress, he noticed several other cars were doing the same. As more time passed and the time of his appointment came ever closer, he was becoming more and more anxious. In his desperation he called out, ‘God please find me a parking spot.’ When that didn’t immediately work he proceeded to make a deal with God. ‘God if you find me a parking spot I will go to church every Sunday, I will stop swearing and never drink whisky again.’ Just then, not five meters ahead, a car backed out of a space. ‘It’s okay God,’ called the man. ‘Don’t worry, I have found a space myself.’ This is just a little bit of triviality but let’s continue with the silliness for a moment. What was the man hoping for from God? How did he imagine God would have produced the asked for parking space? A bright heavenly beam of light perhaps, illuminating a previously unseen empty spot? Whatever the man in our tale had expected, it wasn’t the very simple and practical solution to his predicament. Now, in a full carpark with several people all looking for a non-existent space, it is debatable whether or not God would have found the chap a space. And his attempt to sweeten the deal, by promising a bunch of things he thought God would like, would have had no effect on the outcome at all. However, the practical solution or answers to our prayers is often God’s preferred way of answering us. I wonder how many times our prayers have been answered and we didn’t even notice. Confrontations that never happened, bills that actually you did have enough to pay for after all. The exam you passed because a voice in your head said study would be better than a last minute prayer. God is certainly extraordinary and supernatural and He is able to do the most astonishing things. People long to see these wonders, God’s hand doing the miraculous. It revives our faith and increases our joy, and rightly so. It is easy to judge some answers to prayer as greater than others, but by doing so we may be missing the joy of God’s working in our lives, because He is using the every-day, ordinary ways of doing it. Recognising God's hand in the day-to-day involves recognising God in our commonplace, daily life, rather than solely in the spectacular. Sometimes God is to be found in the wind, earthquakes and fire, but as Elijah discovered, He is also to be found in a gentle whisper. 1 Kings 19.

17/05/2026

‘I’m sure it will be fine,’ thought the mouse.
It was early morning and I was sitting on a rickety chair on a somewhat dilapidated porch. The sun had only just dawned and was easing its way upward, heralding a clear and sunny day ahead. As I sat there enjoying the tranquillity I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye. It was a mouse and it was behaving strangely. It was not scurrying about like mice are inclined to do but rather walking back and forth as if examining something. On closer inspection I discovered the source of the mouse’s apparent concern. Someone had laid out a mousetrap, it was baited and the spring was set. The mouse would walk up to the trap and twitch its whiskers, as if he had discovered something he didn’t like then quickly move away, only to return moments later from a different angle. It repeated this behaviour for a few minutes and each time it returned it moved a little closer to the bait. It was obvious that the mouse was not happy about something, perhaps it was a lingering odour left by the person who set the trap or an instinctive caution of anything unusual. But it did seem like the alure of the bait was every bit as strong as its caution. At one point the mouse was actually standing on the sprung lever, stretching its nose towards the bait, but still not approaching it. Then, for reasons I could not tell, the mouse suddenly jumped in the air and ran off. I thought to myself, ’the mouse lives to fight another day!’ However, within moments it had returned, whatever had scared him off was not as strong as the desire for the tempting morsal that the trap held. On its return the mouse seemed to have lost some of its caution and was walking back and forth over the trap but still not approaching the bait and trigger. After watching the little creature for some minutes, I felt a growing affability towards it and decided to spring the trap before the mouse lost all caution. As I was about to stand there was a sharp snapping sound, I was too late.
‘Mice are such idiots,’ I thought to myself. ‘It had sensed that something was amiss and yet it didn’t run away from it.’ The more I considered this, the more I realised that people are not all that different. We too can be tempted; by something we want to own, a place we want to go to, or a thing we want to do. Even when caution warns us; you can’t afford it, it’s not the right thing for you, or it’s not the right time. We become like the mouse, walking around it, arguing with ourselves. Half of our head is saying ‘no, this is not what we need right now.’ But the other half of our head is arguing, ‘oh but I really want this, why can’t I have it?’ There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death. Proverbs 14:12

10/05/2026

‘Did you do anything exciting over the weekend?’ A question asked by many, myself included, all over the country most Monday mornings. For the most part it’s not a serious enquiry, just a thing we say by way of a casual greeting. I know that I get asked this a lot and sometimes, out of mischievousness, I reply something in the line of, ‘Oh you know, the usual, bungy jumping, rock climbing and Ninja stuff.’ Some smile in acknowledgment of the joke while others throw out a quick, ‘that’s nice,’ as they hurry about their business. Occasionally I have noticed the odd person glancing back as they hurry away with a slightly confused look on their face as if thinking, ‘what did he say?’ For the most part, none of us have any expectation that our question will result in a conversation, we are just basically saying hello. The downside to this style of greeting is that it’s inclined to desensitise us to the needs of others. I recall on one occasion throwing out this question in passing to a chap I knew only slightly. I hardly even shortened my stride and was about to reply, ‘that sounds interesting,’ to his expected reply, or some other relevant statement, when he touched my arm. ‘Actually,’ he said. ‘I have had a very difficult weekend.’ Well, this was not what I expected, now what was I going to do? I had an appointment on the other side of town, and I was already perilously close to running late. Now that I had been forced to stop, I could see the chap’s face clearly and it was obvious that something was seriously wrong. Forcing myself not to look at my watch I invited him for a coffee in a nearby café. It turned out that on the Friday when he returned home from work, his wife was waiting at the door. ‘It’s over,’ she said. ‘I’m leaving you.’ As his story unfolded it transpired that she had met someone new and was moving to a new town to begin a new life, leaving him and their two teenage children behind. As I sat there listening to the heart-broken man, I felt inadequate. I had nothing to offer him, no gem of wisdom nor any words of encouragement came to mind. I knew saying something stupid like, ‘I am sure it will be fine,’ would be of no value whatsoever. As it turned out he was not looking for advice, and my offer of practical help was not required either, he just needed to tell someone. We live in a world today that seems to be ever in a hurry. A world where texts have replaced dropping someone a note. A world where, Snapchat, actually I don’t really know what this is, but I understand it’s a method of sending quick, temporary messages that are self-deleting. It seems like the world has never had as many ways of communicating as it has today, and one of the preferred ways of communicating appears to be in emojis. A thumbs up sign when we agree with someone, a crying face when we are sorry to hear that or praying hands to let someone know we are praying for them. Emojis now play a large role in the way we communicate, but none of these methods I have mentioned would have been of the least value to the chap I was talking to, he just wanted someone to take the time to listen to him. ‘Understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Let everyone be quick to hear [be a careful, thoughtful listener], slow to speak [a speaker of carefully chosen words and], slow to anger [patient, reflective, forgiving]’; James 1:19 AMP

03/05/2026

The train carriage was trundling along and a small boy stood looking out of the window with his face almost pressed to the glass. ‘Look Dad,’ he said to the man sitting next to him. ‘There are cows in those two fields over there.’ The man leaned forward to better see out of the window. ‘How many are in each field?’ he asked his son. The child, using his fingers as counting aids, replied. ‘There are eight in the one field and six in the other.’
‘Well done that is correct,’ said the father with a smile, ‘And how many are six and eight when you add them together?’
The lad was not so sure about this sum and had run out of fingers before he arrived at an answer.
The father tousled his son’s hair, ‘It’s fourteen, eight and six are fourteen.’
Just then there was a soft cough from a passenger nearby. ‘Excuse me,’ she said. ‘But you are misleading the boy, everyone knows that eleven and three equal fourteen.
Before the father could respond another passenger spoke. ‘Oh, dear me, but you are both wrong, nine and five are the two numbers you need to achieve fourteen.’
‘Twelve and two,’ came another voice.
‘Ten and four,’ was called from somewhere at the other end of the carriage.
Then there was a loud sigh as a rather distinguished gentleman sat forward in his seat. ‘Seven and seven are most certainly fourteen’ he said rather austerely. ‘I thought that was clearly understood by everyone.’
By this time the lad was thoroughly confused. He had no doubt that what his dad said was correct, but what were all these other people talking about?
This is just a silly example of the confusion that can be caused when there are multiple answers to the same question. Of course, in the field of numbers, we are quite happy to accept that there is more than one truth. However, in other areas we find it much less tolerable. Nowhere is this truer than in the church. Should communion be served to non-church members? What age must a child be to receive communion? How old is the universe? Should women be ordained? Is on-line church real church? What denomination has the most accurate theology? And so, it goes on. Each one of these questions, and many more like them, have multiple and diverse answers, all of which are considered to be truth by those who hold them. They can’t all be right, or can they? Is there only one group that has it right, or do two or three agree enough theologically to be compatible? Even as I write this I can’t help thinking of Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes, ‘I’ve seen what is done on this earth. All of it is meaningless. It’s like chasing the wind.’ The older I get the more I realise how little rules, procedures and doctrine actually matter. On reflection, after almost fifty years of serving the Lord I have concluded that there is only one thing that truly matters. Endeavour to allow nothing to come between you and God. This is where peace and hope are to be found.

26/04/2026

Ever year, at our denomination’s District Assembly, each senior pastor is given a three-minute slot to give a report on their church’s activities and highlights over the previous year. This time- constraint has always been a bit of a bone of contention. You are asked to give a report on all that God had done in your church that year but always remembering you are on a three minute countdown. One year they even had a person holding up cards that portrayed how many seconds the speaker still had. However, most pastors managed to keep within the time limitations, though a few simply ignored it and said all they wanted to say. Where I am sure, it’s not the intension of the Assembly, these pastors’ reports are inclined to become a little competitive. Who has recorded the largest increase in membership, who has paid their budgets and who hasn’t etc. Whether we intend it or admit it, success is mostly judged by numbers and income. In business it’s all about the amount of units sold and profit margins, where in the church it’s all about attendance and tithes and offerings. It is only these details that are recorded, and indeed become future statistics, which are forever recorded online and in booklets. Where I understand the need for these records, I am also aware it is in no way an accurate representation of what is actually happening out there. These archives do not record the pastors who have not been paid in months or those pastors who has two other jobs to enable them to keep the doors of their church open. Ageing pastors who would have long ago retired had there been anyone waiting in the wings to take over. Mostly these churches would be seen as ailing, because they seldom receive new members or are not able to meet their financial responsibilities. And where this may be true it does not mean that the church is no longer active in its community. The pastor and his people are still visiting the ill and shut-ins, and communion is regularly served in local retirement homes. Elderly, long standing members are to be found cleaning floors, so that the weekly parent and toddler group has a clean pleasant space to use. Little of this is recorded and even less is noticed, just a single page in a booklet that would seem to imply that it was hardly worth while keeping that church open. Being a retired pastor of a struggling church, I know that everything has a season and that seasons inevitably come to an end. My church board and I looked at numerous ways to ensure our church’s future, but none was found. There simply was no practical way to keep the doors open. Our church served its community for over a hundred and twenty years and it is heart breaking to think that its last recorded record states that it had no new members and did not fulfil its financials responsibilities. However, even as I write this, I am reminded of words spoken to me by my first ever Nazarene pastor. ‘Bob, whenever you feel marginalised or underappreciated stop, and remember who you are doing this for and who is keeping the score.
Don’t store up treasures here on earth where they can erode away or may be stolen. Store them in heaven where they will never lose their value and are safe from thieves. If your profits are in heaven, your heart will be there too. Matthew 6:19-21 TLB

19/04/2026

Belief is not necessarily truth.
We had been sitting in the stationary railway carriage for the best part of an hour, apparently a derailment ahead was causing our delay. I was sharing a table designed for four with another chap who was middled aged, well dressed and reading a newspaper. As is often the case in situations like this, people who would normally be content with their own thoughts are inclined to strike up a conversation with those nearby.
‘Gravity!’ uttered my table companion. ‘Can you believe that people are so easily hoodwinked with that nonsense?’
I looked at him for several moments in silence, wondering if something in his newspaper had prompted the strange question.
‘I take it from your silence that you too, have been deceived,’ he continued.
Gathering my thoughts I asked. ‘You don’t believe in gravity?’
‘Of course not,’ he exclaimed. ‘The only reason an apple falls from a tree is because it is denser than the air around it.’
At best, I had only a rudimentary understanding of gravity, but even with my appalling lack of knowledge on the subject I could see quite a few holes in his logic. So, I felt I had to ask, ‘What is the science behind what you believe?’
‘Science,’ he held up a finger as he spoke. ‘Don’t talk to me about science. Science is the cause of most of the world’s problems. It’s just stuff and nonsense they would have you believe.’
By this stage I was wondering if he was a religious nut or a Flat Earth exponent and it soon became clear.
‘Science, oh, and religion too,’ he continued. ‘Together they have conspired to befuddle almost the whole world.’
‘Why do you suppose they are doing that?’ I asked.
‘What do you mean why? To confuse us of course,’ he replied.
I nodded, ‘Yes you said that before, but to what end are ‘they’ doing it, two worldwide conspiracies, I mean what’s in it for the conspirators?
‘I see I am wasting my time; you are too narrow minded to see beyond what you have been taught.’ With these words he returned to reading his paper.
Soon after the train began to move and we resumed our journey. Once we were on the move the chap folded his paper and without a word move away. As I thought over what he had been saying I smiled to myself, it was not often that you heard that science and religion, who normally are not what you would think of as compatible, conspiring together to delude the whole world. I pretty much discounted everything that my travelling companion had said, he had no evidence or argument, he just had statements. However, I did pause to consider his accusation. ‘You are too narrow minded to see beyond what you have been taught.’ Like I said earlier, I know very little about the intricacies of gravity, but the simple truth is an apple, left to its own devises, will always fall to the ground. Religion is every bit as complex as science; it affects every living person in one way or another and is in a constant state of turmoil as different facets claim exclusivity. Though here too there are truths. ‘Here we go,’ I hear some of you utter with a sigh. ‘He is now going to wax all churchy about all the amazing stuff God has done.’ ‘I could do that, but I won’t, instead I will simply share with you a discovery I made many years ago. God is real and true. Never mind what science has to say or what religion you may hold to. God is truth. ‘How do you know this?’ you may ask. Well, I was lost, confused and sin ruled my life, and one day in hopeless desperation I called on God for help. Now, despite still struggling with all the things that life lays before me, God is the centre of my life. I know who He is, His guidance, grace and compassion sustain and steer me. Even in the times when I sought to go another way He was always there waiting for me. God knows who you are, He even knows how many hairs you have on your head, and if you want you can know Him. If you are truly looking for truth start with God. When someone asks me if I believe in Jesus, I answer it in the same way as if I had been asked do I like breathing. Of course I do! It’s wonderful and life would be impossible without it.’

12/04/2026

I have been posting on Facebook for quite a few years now, but it was only recently that my daughter showed me that there was a way to check how many people were reading my posts, including their age and gender. Up to this point I only had the amount of ‘likes’ I received as a guide and, to be honest, I never received many of them. Knowing how many people read my posts was, and continues to be, a great encouragement to me, however knowing the ages of my readers did give me pause for thought. The bulk of my readers, around 55%, fall into the 55-65+ group, about 30% are made up of the 35-54 group, and the remainder is made up of people in their twenties. Before this I had hardly considered my readership and posted because it seemed right, and for the joy or writing. But now that I knew who was reading my posts I worried that I may not be relevant to everyone. For instance, the cartoon above would be understood by the bulk of my readers, but it may make no sense whatsoever to the younger readers. At the best of times young people confuse me, I have five grandsons and I love them dearly, but I have to admit that their choices and priorities often bewilder me. Despite my concerns my youngest grandson, who is still in primary school, has no doubt that he pretty much knows everything, and in all modesty he accepts that he is probably the best at everything too. The other four, all in their twenties, are making the very best of what life has given them. On reflexion I think we might worry too much about identifying with other ages groups. Mostly it is the older who worry about the younger. My grandsons, for instance, have no inclinations to identify with me, I am their granddad and that is enough. Nor have any of them ever said, ‘You know what grandad, I do wish you would try to identify with your grandsons more.’ Some months ago, I sat at my computer with the sole purpose of writing a ‘Thought for the Day,’ aimed at twenty somethings. I had researched the subject matter, terminology and vocabulary, and prepared to write something relevant, but nothing came. After a while I realised how ridiculous I was being, there is no one out there who is fretting and thinking, ‘I do wish that old guy would write something more relevant to me and my needs.’ Posting on social media is like scattering seeds, you really have no idea where it will land or eventually end up. There is no real way of aiming it, basically I am just tossing it out there trusting it reaches those who may benefit from it. Two of my great pleasures in life are serving God and writing. My ‘Thought for the Day,’ allows me to fulfil both. I almost lost this privilege and pleasure, by worrying about who may be reading it. Like the farmer, I cannot make the seeds grow nor do I have any control on who will eat the fruit of those seeds. It is my job to simply sow them and God will determine their path.
I [Paul] planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7

05/04/2026

They had arrived late the previous night, and now that it was morning it was their first opportunity to inspect their surroundings. He was standing at the Juliet balcony on the seventh-floor holiday apartment’s bedroom and in his hand was a brochure. He was alternately looking at the view from the window and then perusing the brochure. ‘It says here,’ he called loudly to his wife who was in another part of the apartment. ‘That this holiday complex is renowned for its magnificent views.’ When no reply came, he continued. ‘Am I to presume that these roof tops I am looking at are among the most magnificent in all of Spain?’ He was making no attempt to disguise the sarcasm in his voice. ‘They always do this,’ he continued, his voice growing more despondent, ‘they promise all kinds of wonders, and what do we get? Rooftops for as far as the eye can see.’
He was pretty sure he heard an audible sigh just before his wife spoke. ‘O, come here,’ she called.
Following the direction of her voice he entered the lounge, one wall of which was made up entirely of a glass bi-folding door. The door was open and beyond was a spacious, comfortably furnished veranda. He passed through the door and stood beside his wife, who was now leaning on the veranda rail looking outward. The view beyond consisted of well-manicured lawns festooned with all manner of colourful plants. The lawns became grassy banks which eased into dunes and then on to a seemingly endless beach spreading out of sight on either side of the veranda with the sapphire sea stretching far off to the horizon.
‘Oh,’ was all he had to say.
It is tragic what we may be missing because we are looking in the wrong direction. The chap in our tale was in the immediate vicinity of the wonderful view he had hoped for, but he was looking elsewhere. And on seeing the disappointing view he didn’t think to himself, ‘This is not right, there must be a better one than this.’ Instead, he accepted the presumed subterfuge and bemoaned the travel agent’s dishonesty and his own displeasure. In this example the matter was quickly resolved but that is not always the case. In my years as a pastor I have come across so many unhappy situations based on the assumption that something was true where in fact it was not. Broken marriages because of what was seen as an afront. Families torn apart because of a supposed ingratitude or disrespect. Not so long ago I was accosted by an acquaintance who asked me. ‘Why do you go to church, everyone knows it is full of hypocrites?’ ‘How many church going hypocrites do you know?’ I asked him. He shrugged and admitted he didn’t know any, adding. ‘But everyone knows it’s true.’ In each of these cases years of confusion and unhappiness could have been avoided if they had just asked themselves, ‘Surely this is not right?’ and then checked. Proverbs 18:13 warns us, "To answer before listening—that is folly and shame.” In other words, it advises us to hold our thoughts and our tongues until we have looked for the truth and gathered all the facts.

29/03/2026

In recent days I received a video that featured a renowned ‘God bashing atheist’, and by viewing it I triggered the algorithm that governs these things, and now I am inundated with similar videos and articles. Where a few of these would be pragmatists, who are ill-prepared and are only using the platform to vent their own prejudices, for the most part the arguments are being presented by well-educated individuals who have researched the subject. Basically, they point out all the terrible things that have happened, and are happening, in the world, then they ask the rhetorical question, ‘What kind of God would allow that?’ When finished with the horrors of the world they move onto the Bible and separate all the scriptures that they believe lend weight to their premise that God can’t possibly exist. Of course, they ignore any scriptures that could cast doubt on their hypothesis. However, I must admit they do make a convincing case. For instance, Sigmund Freud believed that God is no more than adult projection of a child's need for a father’s protection and authority. And Christopher Hitchens argues that faith demands the rejection of rational thought and intellectual honesty, while advocating belief without evidence. Then, let us not forget the favourite quote of the atheist, ‘God didn't create man, man created God.’ So, in a nutshell they are saying Christianity is no more than a crutch to help the weak minded through the anxieties of life. The thing is, they have a point. Many people use God for just such a purpose and only call on Him in times of need. They have not attempted to cultivated a relationship with God but just keep Him handy in the background for when they need Him. However, the fact that some people have a psychological need for God in no way disproves His existence. Just as all the awful things that have happened throughout history do not diminished God’s existence but rather reveal the hopelessness of a world without Him. C.S. Lewis, in his book ‘Mere Christianity’ says, ‘And out of that hopeless attempt, has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.’ There is no doubt that the world can be a terrible place, nature can be so beautiful it takes our breath away and at the same time its cruelty and fury can be overwhelming. Humankind has the capacity for both unconditional kindness as well as extreme cruelty. Of course, when all is beautiful and kind God is mostly ignored but when ugliness and cruelty appear, the atheist cries out. ‘What kind of God would allow this?’ God didn’t allow it. We live in an imperfect world that is populated by imperfect people who have a free will to make their own decisions. Some decide to be kind others cruel, why should God be blamed for their decisions? Who do the none-believers blame I wonder?
On a personal note, I don’t have the scholarly ability to take this matter further on an academic level so I will share with you the role God plays in my life. Firstly, I believe I have no entitlement to God’s love and the fact that He is interested in me at all is a constant source of wonder and amazement. I am free, indeed encouraged, to talk to Him as often as I like, no appointment needed. No matter the issue, good or challenging, God is my first port of call for wisdom, courage, advice or inspiration. And the more you talk to God, the more He talks to you and the more you come to know Him. I cannot conceive of a life without God. By His grace I have come to know Him, so I can tell you He most certainly exists and if you want to know Him, forget the textbooks and colleges for a moment and just introduce yourself to Him. He already knows who you are of course, but now you can get to know who He is. ‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’ Jeremiah 29:13

Broomhill Nazarene

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