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Driving home from dropping my son in Manchester I was expecting an easy journey home. But then I drove past a sign that read ‘M25 closed at Junction 15’. Since this was the way I was going this was clearly a problem, and there was no obvious alternative. But I kept going trusting that at […] The post Unexpected Detours appeared first on Turn the Page.

Lots of people assume that the God of the Bible is always angry and vengeful. No wonder they don’t believe in him. The problem is that we think he gets angry like us. Like the time I had 15 minutes before the start of the service and was desperately trying to get three small children […] The post Why does God get angry? appeared first on Turn the Page.

I recently sent a gift to a friend. I was able to track the delivery as the van made it way around the town where my friend lives. But while I could see where the van was, I couldn’t control what the driver did. For all I knew they might decide to chuck a load […] The post Tracking my delivery appeared first on Turn the Page.

This summer I was invited to attend a Speed Awareness Course! With some irony this was the result of lockdown. As the world slowed and the roads emptied a unique opportunity arose – that of approaching the Dartford Tunnel without having to slow down and join the back of a queue. On the course we […] The post Speed Awareness appeared first on Turn the Page.

During the summer months moths and bees are regular visitors to my bedroom. The moths are drawn to the brightness of my bedside light and bees have made a nest in the flat roof above. On the one hand the moths seem restless and uncertain, endlessly approaching the light but never actually landing on it. […] The post Are you a moth or a bee? appeared first on Turn the Page.

For two thousand years Christians have prayed ‘Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’. But hang on a minute. Doesn’t that imply that God’s will isn’t being done on earth at the moment? What does that say about belief in an all-powerful, all-loving God? If he’s as good […] The post Weak-willed God? appeared first on Turn the Page.

Johnny Depp’s current libel case reminds us how unpleasant it is when someone’s character and behaviour are misrepresented. Not many of us need a jury to decide the merits of our case; but most of us can remember a time when someone said something about us and we thought, ‘that’s just not me’. Richard Dawkins […] The post That’s not me! appeared first on Turn the Page.

Fans of the Shakespearean-inspired comedy ‘Upstart Crow’ will be familiar with the exclamation ‘hang the futtock on’. It often comes at a moment when the playwright is struggling to find inspiration for his next play and suddenly realises that current events provide the perfect plotline. It’s a moment when the penny drops. But the comedy […] The post Hang the futtock on appeared first on Turn the Page.

It’s often supposed that the Bible is rather old-fashioned and irrelevant. So quite a surprise to discover that St Paul seemed more than familiar with Zoom calls. Speaking to a church in the ancient city of Corinth he says, ‘Now we see but a poor reflection; then we shall see face to face’. Over the […] The post Speaking Face to Face appeared first on Turn the Page.

A few years ago, a damp patch suddenly appeared in the middle of our lawn. Being me, I didn’t do anything about it and just hoped it would go away. But it didn’t. Over the years it got worse. One particularly dry summer a small frog made its home there while the rest of lawn […] The post A Stinky Problem appeared first on Turn the Page.

The reopening of hairdressers in England will come as a huge relief to many. Worrying about what to do with our hair has been one of the pressing issues of lockdown. There seem to have been three options. Firstly, do nothing and just stick it out. Secondly, let a family member have a go, after […] The post Every Hair Counted appeared first on Turn the Page.

It’s the oldest objection to God in the world, most recently expressed to me as follows: ‘God has watched while thousands have died during the pandemic; exactly as he did during two World Wars, the Holocaust, and the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides. He didn’t do a thing because he doesn’t exist.’ But just for a […] The post Why doesn’t God do something? appeared first on Turn the Page.

Since the beginning of lockdown, the UK government has racked up £300 billion in debt, providing extra resources for the NHS and furloughing millions of workers. I’m told that the last time this happened was in 1835. On that occasion slavery had just been abolished and the money was used to compensate slave owners for […] The post Paying off debt appeared first on Turn the Page.

My father died from cancer when I was just a year old. I have no memory of him whatsoever, although for a year I must have heard his voice and felt the warmth of his embrace. Then one day he just vanished from my life. Later during my school years my friends would sometimes ask […] The post Father’s Day appeared first on Turn the Page.

When Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy in June 1944, they didn’t expect to meet much in the way of resistance. The biggest naval bombardment in history had been launched against German defences, and just before landing 5,000 rockets were fired against German positions. It should have been enough to neutralise the enemy. But […] The post We’re all sinners appeared first on Turn the Page.

Some years ago I found myself caught up in the aftermath of a bombing and subsequent rioting. Mindful of my safety my hosts wisely insisted that I should remain ‘locked down’ until the danger had passed. It was a strange experience being in isolation while just yards away the streets were in chaos.  When I […] The post Emerging from lockdown appeared first on Turn the Page.

I regularly see this picture with words, ‘There are 5,000 gods worshipped by humanity…. but only yours is right’. The accusation is that any religion that makes an exclusive claim to truth is arrogant. The problem, of course, that the accusation itself is an exclusive claim – no religion is true – and, therefore, fails […] The post One way? appeared first on Turn the Page.

Divisions in society are probably as old as time itself. In the time of Jesus there were three fault lines that divided people from one another: Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free. That was just the way that it was. But then Jesus arrived on the scene and drove a coach and […] The post All lives matter appeared first on Turn the Page.

As recent events in the UK have shown it can be one thing to pass a law and quite another to work out how it applies. This is not a new thing. Four thousand years ago God gave a simple framework of laws to govern how we were to live – the Ten Commandments. The […] The post The letter or the spirit appeared first on Turn the Page.

A British missionary arrived in Africa keen to share the Good News of Jesus. He hired local porters to carry his gear and set off into the jungle. After a full day’s marching through the heat of the day they stopped for the night, and after a fitful night’s sleep he was eager to set […] The post Time to slow down appeared first on Turn the Page.