When we lived in Ukraine, part of the difficulty was the lack of predictability, especially around shopping. We simply did not know when what might be available. And so something like a grocery list became an exercise in guess work, a wish list that had little bearing on what we actually came home with. We discovered that it was futile to get our hopes up that our plans had much influence on resul...

In I Corinthians 13.13, the apostle Paul writes that ‘So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love’.We know that we are saved by God’s grace, through faith, and so faith holds a perpetually prominent place in the Christian life. And we know that faith works through love – that love is the fruit of genuine faith and reflects God’s gracious character. And so lov...

One of the fun things about being a parent is the ability to name a child. But it can be a bit daunting as you begin to realise this little person is going to have to live with this name for the rest of their lives! What’s cute on the nursery wall is not necessarily ideal for the rough and tumble reality of the school yard.In the Jewish culture of the Bible, naming a child involved more than wonde...