Before we embark on a camping expedition, it is important to plan what we need to take with us. We might think of warm clothes, sleeping bag, torch, matches, etc., but would we think of including a packet of crisps?

Before computing became as popular as it is today, many offices had a machine called a word processor that a typist could use to create and store documents. It was essentially a hybrid between an old mechanical typewriter and a computer that we all have today.

Do you remember as a younger person learning to calculate the approximate distance between a storm and yourself, considering the number of seconds between a lightning flash and a rumble of thunder? Based on the speed of sound, the calculation revealed that a gap of 5 seconds between flash and thunder equates to 1 mile.

When heat is applied to marmalade oranges, pectin is released. Likewise, as the heat of painful memories occur today, we need to release our own setting agent. Paul says: Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:1 – 3)

I am sure all of us have, at some point, been invited to a wedding service and reception. As the service is rather special for the couple concerned, we take care what we wear, ensuring we put on our “Sunday best” and look good for any family and friends’ group photos.

Mountaineers have not “arrived” when they reach Base Camp. Likewise, we have not arrived when we accept Christ as our Saviour.

Before the Suez Canal was completed in 1869, ships needing to sail between Europe and the Far East would need to round the Southern tip of Africa. The problem with that route lay in having to negotiate the Cape where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet. Due to the severity of the seas at the Cape, it was originally named the Cape of Storms (literally in Portuguese, Cape of Torments) by Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Dias in 1488. But a few years later, it was renamed by King John II of Portugal as the Cape of Good Hope.  

How about you? Do you feel like the Christian life is all too much, and you fall so often and miss the mark? You won when you met Jesus; you received salvation as a robe of righteousness, just like a trophy. Like Dorando, you may not achieve your personal goals in life: that qualification/ that job/ that spouse/ those children/ that car/ that house/ that salary/ that fame/ that degree of health and strength, but……………

A ship that is left loose to the mercy of a storm will be caught by surging waves that can inundate and ultimately throw over the ship. Likewise, the issues of life can seem like a sea: one minute calm and tranquil, and the next like a great heaving tempest that rises and falls, with uncertainties and unknown difficulties with no certainty as to the final outcome. It is without doubt that everyone of us needs an anchor in his or her life!

Ellet announced a kite-flying contest with a prize of $5 (worth about £200 today) to anyone who could secure a single cord to both sides of the river. A 16-year-old named Homan Walsh responded, and unlike all the other contestants, he decided to fly his kite from the Canadian side to the US side of the river. He succeeded, and the vital link was established.

Scientists say that our voice is as unique as a fingerprint. That's why companies like high street banks and HMRC like to hear our voice when we ring up and are required to say, "my voice is my password" when attempting to access our accounts…If our voice is unique, the same must be the case for God.