iChaplain

While watching the recent eclipse, I found myself thinking about how awesome God is. Well, "watching" might not be the right word. Everyone else seemed to have the proper eclipse glasses that they'd queued all day for.  Meanwhile, my plans were less sophisticated. My pinhole projector skills turned out to be completely non-existent, so I spent most of the eclipse running between the garden and the living room.  Obviously, I wasn't looking directly at the sun. I was trying to catch glimpses of what was happening outside and then dashing back inside to watch the coverage on TV. By this point, I felt less like an amateur astronomer and more like a contestant on some bizarre fitness challenge. My step count was excellent, even if my eclipse-viewing technique wasn't. This continued for a while until someone pointed out that I could simply stream it on my phone. That certainly made life easier. But even in the middle of all that running around, I was struck by what I wa...

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash The Takeaway Comedy isn’t just allowed in the Bible. It’s everywhere: satire, irony, playful exaggeration, and wonderfully human moments. And when you spend time organising comedy events for a church, especially when you’ve never done it before, you start to see how laughter builds connection in exactly the same way Scripture often does: by helping people breathe again. But comedy isn’t everyone’s favourite thing, and that’s important to acknowledge. Many people come along not because they adore stand‑up, but because they want to support these events held by a church, to stand with the community, or simply to encourage the people involved. That kind of quiet loyalty deserves real respect. And then there are the ones who get up to participate, offering their own humour, their own courage, their own willingness to be part of something slightly unpredictable. There are those who laugh freely, letting the room loosen and warm. And there are others who s...