Pete (The Virtual Vicar)

A lifestyle in vogue today is to coast along and go with the flow. Goals are considered quaint. Consequences aren't considered at all. And neither is duty.  This currently popular approach of slip-sliding through life directly opposes the Christian standard. Christianity calls us to maximize the gifts and talents God gave us so we can fulfil the reason we're alive, the reason God created us. To achieve this requirement, the Bible calls Christians to obey God. Once we make God the boss of our lives, we must do what he tells us to do.  What does God talk to us about? Love, for one thing. Not mushy, anything-goes love, but get-it-together love that makes life work. Gratitude, for another thing. If we don't have gratitude for Godís blessings, we're not paying attention. We show our gratitude to God for this amazing gift by being model citizens. As our example, Jesus followed the laws of his day, the tyranny of the Roman Empire. And he paid his taxes. Does that mean Jesus ga

God creates reality through faith. In Genesis he performed a miracle for Abraham. He made a statement that was humanly impossible but God made it so.  "Number the stars" And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. (Gen 15:5-6) God told Abraham that his physical descendants would be as many as the stars in heaven. Now when this statement was made, Abraham and Sarah were already past the child bearing age.  Nevertheless, God said it would happen. Now what is Abraham to do? He believed God! He acted upon this information. "Believe" in the Bible, means trusting God and so it means, in effect, acting upon what God said to us.  Then what does God do in response to Abraham's acting upon his statement concerning a child for himself and Sarai? (Abraham's old age made no difference

Novak Djokovic has apologised for hitting a line judge with a ball at the US Open, saying he is "extremely sorry for creating her such stress". The world number one was disqualified from his fourth-round match against Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta. The Serb, 33, who had just had his serve broken, took a ball out of his pocket and hit it behind him, striking the woman in her throat. "This whole situation has left me really sad and empty," said Djokovic. Has the famous tennis player celebrity identified his dark nasty side?  Do we all have one? What are other celebrities hiding?  In the podcast episode below I join with Mark in answering these questions by analysing this incident in the light of human experience and the Christian worldview.  Click to listen.   Listen to "The Nasty Side of Novak Djokovic" on Spreaker.

What do you want in your life?  What kind of life would you like to live?  I believe the answer lies in a question:  What are you becoming?   There is much written today in the coaching world about the law of attraction.  The truth of the matter is that we really are attracting positive and negative things into our life everyday by our conversations, our interactions, even our demeanour.  A person that acts and speaks negatively will no doubt repel positive people and most likely will only attract other negative people.  The old expression, "misery loves company" is really true.  So how do I get good things to come in my life?  In the Bible, we read about the concept of favour.  Favour is this undeserved blessing or open door that suddenly happens to us when we did very little to make happen. Its kind of like being at the right place at the right time.  Its having someone really like you, believe in you and open unexpected opportunities for you.  That is favour or put another

Evil, pain and suffering caused by hateful people are never far from us. Why does God allow it? Can a loving God allow suffering? Why does God allow such suffering? How do we reconcile a caring god, a god of power, with a god who allows evil actions to happen?  In this brief article, part 1 on pain and suffering,  I look specifically at pain and suffering caused by people.  In part 2 I will look specifically at natural tragedies including pandemics.   Let's set the scene: * Tragedies and suffering due to war and violence flood the news. Why? * Evil and pain afflict loved ones, friends and communities. Why does God allow this? * Suffering seems to leave no one untouched. People ask why God allows pain in their lives: emotional pain, physical suffering, sadness and loss.  They say God must not care, or perhaps he is not powerful. God allows us to be human, to make choices. He cannot allow human freedom without allowing suffering or humans would be puppets. Much of the evil and pain i

Thankfulness is a way of life that can have a great positive impact on a you. Let’s take a good look at how thankfulness works. Thankfulness is directed at God through Christ Jesus. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.   Colossians 2:6-7 Thankfulness works in three different ways. First, it works on you and your general attitude. Second, it works on those around you. Lastly, it has a way of influencing your environment. How exactly Thankfulness works on these things is, open for debate, though.   You will feel how powerful thankfulness is. Once you start to implement thankfulness in your life, you will start to see it work for you. Thankfulness has a way of changing your whole view on life. You will start to find the good in things and that will make you happy. You will be less likely to feel down and instead you will allow than