Category: About God

Grace and Jeffery Dahmer

Grace. You might know it as a girl’s name or a prayer at meal times, but that is not the amazing kind of grace I want to talk about here.

Grace is a Biblical concept that basically means getting something we don’t deserve (sometimes paired with the term mercy, which means not getting what we do deserve).  For instance, getting a promotion when we deserve to be fired, or getting a prize when we deserve a fine.

Christians talk about the grace of God in terms of us receiving His undeserved, free forgiveness which is not earned by moral living, but accepted as a gift, through faith.Continue reading

Filed under: About God, Jody Bennett, Popular culture, Thoughts on lifeTagged with: , , , , ,

You’re in the army now

Published in the African Military edition

When one joins the armed forces one is required to wear a uniform, to obey orders unquestioningly, to work in close co-operation with others, to focus on a common goal and to subordinate one’s own identity and desires to those of the organisation.

Each member of an army, navy or air force uses his or her abilities and training, which are often acquired in the military, to promote and serve their country through that corps.Continue reading

Filed under: About God, Jody Bennett, Thoughts on lifeTagged with: , , ,

Heaven

When someone says “heaven”, what do you think of?

Wings, harps and clouds? Doing your favourite thing all day? A bland place with lots of singing?

Many people define heaven by the things that make them feel happy and fulfilled on Earth, but what if I were to tell you that in heaven there is no sex, no marriage, no Wi-fi, no computer games, no Netflix, no sport and probably no sleep. Would you still want to go?

Continue reading

Filed under: About God, About the Bible, Jody Bennett, Thoughts on lifeTagged with: , ,

Harry Potter meets Jesus

If you are someone who generally finds church a bit boring but loves the Harry Potter books and movies, then Leverington Church in Philadelphia has an unusual sermon series that might just pique your interest.

Entitled Harry Potter meets Jesus this set of seven short talks by Pastor Langdon remains true to both the Bible and the novels and brings out some fascinating parallels that are sure to make both more interesting to a generation of readers that have been influenced what is arguably ‘the most popular cultural phenomenon of our time’.Continue reading

Filed under: About God, Jody Bennett, Popular culture, Thoughts on lifeTagged with: , , ,

That which connects us all

 

Recently I watched the movie Collateral Beauty, starring Will Smith as a man dealing with the death of his young daughter. Two years have elapsed and Smith’s character Howard Inlet is still not coping very well, his marriage is over and he is reduced to writing hate mail to Time, Death and Love.

As Howard explains right at the beginning of the movie, “Now these three things connect every single human being on earth. We long for love. We wish we had more time. And we fear death.”Continue reading

Filed under: About God, Jody Bennett, Thoughts on lifeTagged with: , , , ,

Disrupting redesigns

I have been watching interior design shows on Netflix recently. I’m inspired by the creativity and cleverness of those who take nice but ordinary rooms and turn them into works of art.

What I have noticed though is that, without fail, those rooms always look worse before they look better. The day before the big reveal, you couldn’t possibly imagine how it is all going to come together.

Continue reading
Filed under: About God, Jody Bennett, Thoughts on lifeTagged with: , , , ,

Long-term effects

I read today that doctors suspect a link between Covid-19 and Parkinson’s disease. Apparently the inflammation caused by Covid could have long-term effects on the body and lead to more serious repercussions later in life.

The longer the pandemic progresses, I imagine that may prove to be only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the ripple-effects of the scourge. Who knows what else one might be susceptible to after surviving Covid-19?

Continue reading
Filed under: About God, Jody Bennett, Thoughts on lifeTagged with: , , , ,