DOES PRAYER 'WORK'?

SO LIVE ADVENTUROUSLY!

WHAT DO OTHERS THINK OF ME?

I had a client who said, 'When I think about who I am, I imagine myself as a scarecrow...'

SOMETIMES I FEEL WEIRD

HOW MUCH STUFF IS NECESSARY TO BE HAPPY?

Could you be happy if you had no arms? Watch this:

SO KEEP LIFE SIMPLE

~~~

Here's a challenging message on simplicity by Shane Claiborne:

BUT LIFE IS ALSO GOOD

FIRST: LIFE IS HARD

Life is hard because of bad things which happen to us, but are outside our control



(More on this later)



Life is hard because we do things which are self-destructive. The Christian Church has put these 'sins' under these seven headings:

The Seven Deadly Sins:

1. Lust (Latin, luxuria)
- fornication, perversion

2. Gluttony (Latin, gula)
- waste, overindulgence
- unreasonable or unnecessary excess of consumption

3. Greed (Latin, avaritia)
- treachery, covetousness
- excessive unneccessary acquisition of wealth

4. Sloth (Latin, acedia)
- laziness, apathy

5. Wrath (Latin, ira)
- anger, hatred, prejudice, discrimination

6. Envy (Latin, invidia)
- jealousy, malice)

7. Pride (Latin, superbia)
- vanity, narcissism

Life is very much harder for some people than for others. Here's a Congolese child carrying nutritious biscuits handed out by UNICEF, And an American soldier carrying a dead child in Iraq:





But here's something interesting: I heard in a sermon yesterday that a medical expert on rheumatoid arthritis said he'd noticed after many years that there's a grace about these sufferers that he doesn't see in most other patients. This particular disease apparently creates a special quality of character... Now what do you make of that?

Rowland Croucher

1 Month of Answers to Tough Questions

Dear friends,

Watch this space: this blog is part of a series attempting to answer the most important 300 questions I've been asked in 18,000-plus hours of counseling/talking to people - and learnings from 70 years of a fulfilling life. Here we'll study the 30 most commonly asked questions about Christianity and life.

Other Blogs in this series:

1 Month to Meet the Baptists

1 Month of Books you should Read

1 Month to Learn About the Internet

1 Month to Understand your Local Church

1 Month of Devotions

1 Month to Change Your Life

1 Month to Meet Some Interesting People

1 Month to Become a Christian

1 Month To Meet Jesus

Basic idea: you read one of the 30 posts each day and complete one 'mini-course' in a month. (I might even organize a certificate for those who complete the 300 units!)

Some of the material will be adapted from the 20,000 articles on the John Mark Ministries website. It's a big site, (although many of the 100,000+ unique visitors a month tell me it's easy to navigate).

I look forward to journeying with you!

Shalom/salaam!

Rowland Croucher