John's Jottings

This coming Sunday is "Palm Sunday", so-called because it celebrates the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem in the manner prophesied by Zechariah. The crowd in the city was ecstatic - they threw garments and palm branches in his path as a symbol of welcome and jubilation. We often refer to this event as his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. ...

I am an engineer. It is true that most of the electronic systems I design are initially defined in a written specification, but the fact is that until I translate those written words into a picture - in my case a block diagram or circuit schematic - I am not comfortable. Until I see that graphical representation I cannot generally say "I ...

Every Christian is controversial. We must be since our ways must 'turn against' those of the world. To follow Jesus we have no choice but to turn against the attractions of 'self'.

I was led this week to realize how true this is, and even how true it was back in the middle of the first century when James wrote his general epistle. The Wednesday ...

Jesus’ ministry commenced as he came out of the Jordan, the water of his baptism. At that point, he was blessed by his Father with the words, "You are my son whom I love; with you I am well pleased". Why did the voice from heaven say ‘well pleased’? It was clearly not for any ministry to that point because that had not ...

There are many who will dismiss traditional Christian celebrations because they are not evidenced in the Bible or because they are not even suggested, let alone commanded, by Jesus. There are others who object to Christianity hijacking secular celebrations, and these people will boycotte such feasts because of their questionable roots. May God ...

This morning I received an e-mail that left me more devastated than I have been for many years - if ever. The e-mail was from Pastor Luis of La Vina La Florida - a suburb of Santiago, Chile. I spent may hours with Luis in long discussion and prayer - sometimes from early evening through to four or five o'clock in the morning - reading the Word...

Every now and then I come across a passage in scripture that for some reason has hitherto escaped me. This happened recently with a couple of verses in Exodus (Ex 4:24,25) which at first read seemed out of place and disassociated with the rest of the narrative. And yet exploring deeper into the context in which these verses are set, they have start...

This Sunday, we heard Mark's account of the paralyzed man brought to Jesus by his friends (Mk 2:1-12). In fact, with few differences, the same event is also recorded by both Matthew and Luke in their gospels. As usual, it seems, large crowds had gathered in a house to listen to Jesus preaching, and the friends could not get near to him. But they ...

A blog is something new to me.
Foreign, almost. And to write one is certainly a little daunting!

It's a bit like my diving into the waters of Facebook - I did that simply because that was the only way to communication with my daughter across the 'pond' in the UK - and now we chat more regularly that I do with my older son in the US! I had been...