fidzbit

When the Covid restrictions were first announced last Spring there was a tide of good will, community spirit and shared resolve. There was a new enemy but it was an enemy that we could beat if we all pulled together. The summer sun certainly helped keep the mood positive. It didn’t seem that long before things started to return, gradually, back to some kind of normality. We didn’t have to dig so deep anymore. We could relax a little. Perhaps, like me, you hoped that this was the end. It was a serious threat but by taking action together we had avoided the worst. It was not as bad as it could have been. Alas, we were wrong! We couldn’t see how bad the second wave would be. We didn’t know how many new variants would arise and that they would prove more contagious to different subsections of society. Medical friends who have been following the studies closely inform me that they always feared this. The progression models differed on the details but they all predicted that a ‘second wave’...

Jesus is a spiritual big brother for every Christian. Having suffered in  every way  like us He is able to sympathetically come alongside us with grace to help (Hebrews 2:17, 4:15-16). As Jesus approached the city of Nain he met a funeral procession. A crowd of people were following the bier but that was little comfort to the woman at the centre of the scene. Already a widow, she was about to bury her only son. This probably carried  a significant social stigma - she must have done something really bad to deserve this! I wonder if the mourners crowded about her or if they followed at a safe distance? Either way, she was now all alone in the world. I don’t know if anyone reading this can relate to this widow? Quarantine regulations mean that many people are experiencing painful isolation. Perhaps you have been recently bereaved and must attend the funeral alone because other family members are not allowed to travel. Perhaps it is the anniversary of an earlier berea...

The Philistines had a fearsome champion, a giant of a man called Goliath. The whole battle depended on him being slain. No one in King Saul’s army wanted to fight him. Along came a young shepherd who was willing. He didn’t have any real weapons, just a sling and a few rocks. What he did have was a living faith in the living God. Wild animals were an occupational hazard for David and it seems that he had fought a fair few. As he went to fight the Philistine hulk David explained the source of his courage: “ The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from  the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. " David’s faith had an organic quality about it. It grew. Each time a bigger problem arose he could say “God helped me with that in the past, He will help me with this is the present”. Every obstacle became an opportunity to practice what he had learned before and a preparation for bigger problems that might arise in the future. Step by step,...