There's no day like New Year's Eve to release a new version of software that will draw up a Bible Reading Plan.
The changes from the previous version aren't massive (it's a minor release), but I think it makes it more usable.
Doug Wilson's post on the star followed by the wise men is most thought-provoking and insightful.
Enjoy!
Just spotted this for the first time: Luke 17:6-10 and Luke 17:11-19 are deliberately juxtaposed.
17:6-10 establishes that the right way to relate to God is as his servants. When we serve him, he doesn't “thank” us, because we recognise that we are merely giving him (a tiny part of) what he is due. As the commentaries point out, this is really about the fact that God does not owe us anything because of the service we have given him. Our service never puts us in his debt.
Brilliant
The BBC reported on Friday about a sign outside a supermarket in Morriston, Swansea. The English sign read "No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only". They e-mailed their road sign to Swansea Council's translation department, so that they could also put up the Welsh equivalent. They received their reply, and duly put the sign up in both languages. Apparently "Nid wyf yn y swyddfa ar hyn o bryd. Anfonwch unrhyw waith iw gyfieithu" means "I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated."
Last week, I was contacted by a new micro-roaster, Coffee Bean Shop, asking if I'd be interested in a free sample of some of their beans to try. I didn't have to think long about gift-horses before deciding that wouldn't be a bad idea.
I picked up a second-hand copy of G B Caird's Penguin Commentary on Luke from 1963. Second-hand is all you'll get, but if you spot one in a second-hand bookshop, I'd say: Buy it!
Short. Insightful. Refreshing. Helpful.
I keep finding things written by Christopher Idle at the moment. It's purely co-incidence: Looking for something unrelated and stumble upon it. First some comments on the poem Death is Nothing at all, and now this.
Idle wrote a short article in New Directions magazine. I'm not particularly wanting to endorse or plug the publication – I've never seen a copy – I stumbled upon his article online.
What is an Evangelical? is a short article (so, reader, click through and read!) whose title partly defines what he's writing about. He's actually not seeking to define us evangelicals historically, doctrinally or in any other sense of what we should be. Rather he offers “a snapshot of what today's evangelical looks like. Or rather, a brief slice of fuzzy film where we have been caught on CCTV for a few minutes one Sunday.” And, yes, Idle and I are both evangelicals. This is a slightly satirical depiction from within.
Those who were in my A-level maths class at school had the pleasure of being taught by a delightful teacher, who pretended not to didn't know what was on the syllabus. We were taught maths, and at some point he had a quick peak at the syllabus to check we were ready for the exams.
How heart-warming to read the BBC News headline: Too much maths 'taught to test'.
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