The other day I was teaching my grandchildren how to play a card game called patience or solitaire. We have been asked to distance ourselves from people because of the covid19 virus so have to come up with games and activities for the kids to do. Our family unit cannot go to a park or out anywhere, so we are becoming very inventive for stuff at home. Home picnics, home camping, cooking, shuttlecock or badminton, soccer against the brick wall and then inside games or things to do as well. And so, these card games have begun. Solitaire is such an appropriate name when we have to put ourselves into…

“By His Stripes we are healed.” That line struck me while I was singing it in a song, especially in this season of Holy Week. From Isaiah 53:5, “But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His stripes we are healed.” Every lashing from the whip that Christ received onto His body … were they stripes? He took every hurt, hatred, slur, disease, virus, isolation, pain, wrong, and sin upon Himself. All of these wrongs from all humanity that had been, was and into the future, were like lashes from a whip. He took…

The voice on the phone line was a bit frazzled. “Could you come and pick us up because the car has broken down.” After asking my daughter where she was, I grabbed my car keys, plugged the address into google maps and drove off. Arriving at the address along a very busy highway the waiting started. Waiting on the phone to find a mechanic. Waiting for a tow truck. Waiting and amusing a 2-year-old while waiting. Waiting amongst the noisy, busy traffic of trucks, cars and motorbikes. Waiting in the car till it got too hot because the car air conditioner could not be turned on due to the car…

It’s scary. Read the news, listen to the radio. The reality of life today stops you in your tracks. Literally. “Oh God, what is happening?” my thoughts say and immediately my spirit answers, “God will work good out of this.” Just like scripture says (the word of God that is truth), all things (even corona things) work for good according to God’s perfect plan. It still “seems like a sci-fi movie” one of my daughters shared. But pinch yourself it is real. Jesus was tired and the apostles in trying to care for him told the mothers – take your children away. They scolded the parents for bothering Him. Jesus…

I was watching a medical show on television. You know the usual kind where every week different scenarios are presented. Medically, it could be an emergency and someone needs an operation straight away. Then there is another scene where a long-term patient has further bad news from the last scans.  Then the camera pans to a room where a young patient is with her parents. A doctor walks in and tells them news they have been longing to hear. “The cancer is in remission.” Oh, what joy on everyone’s face. What delight is in the hugs and smiles. All of their lives have just been given back to them. I…