One of my all time favourite films is The Railway Children with actress Jenny Agutter. The final scene sees Jenny’s character, Roberta, standing on the station platform. She wasn’t expecting her father to be on the train after a long absence, but begins to entertain the hopeful possibility. The end of the platform is covered with a thick steamy mist but slowly Roberta recognises her father’s silhouette. She calls out to him “Daddy, my daddy”, as she runs into his embrace. Roberta running into her father’s embrace always gets to me. It speaks to me of the longing to be embraced by our father’s arms, held firmly yet gently, deeply loved, accepted, and protected. It makes me reflect on the unique intimacy available to us from our Heavenly Father. Jesus, called him, Abba, a tender, intimate name not dissimilar to Dad or Daddy, but like Roberta’s father on the platform, sometimes our Heavenly Father can be difficult to make out, hidden by our false p...
The symbolism of the sea in the Bible begins with the creation story. The creation of the universe by God was seen by ancient Hebraic peoples as creation from the cosmic sea (symbolic perhaps of the spiritual realm). In Genesis God separates the waters creating the sky (heaven) and the sea/water on earth as 2 distinct realms and then places boundaries on the earthly seas by creating land. At creation the Spirit is present as he hovered over the waters bringing order to the chaos. The sea is the source of all water on earth. Water springs forth from below and drops through apertures in the firmament above as rain and snow, even providing water for the great flood (Gen 7:11 & 8:2 – the rain fell in mighty torrents and the underground waters stopped flowing). God is seen to therefore use the sea in judgment against sin. In contrast, in Micah 7:19, we see God’s forgiveness by “casting sin into the depths of the sea” but t...
In this final part of my Mum’s reminisces from her childhood, she shares how she was evacuated with her Mum and brother and how they survived a near miss from a doodlebug. In this case it was drastic circumstances that led to their leaving their home, albeit temporarily. There can be many different reasons for leaving the familiar and striking out into the unknown; war, work, adventure or maybe even a Godly command. God told Abram ‘Go from your country, your people and your Father’s household.‘ (Genesis 12:1). Abram didn’t know where he was going, but he did have God’s promise of blessing for him and his future. Sometimes God calls us to ‘Go’. We don’t always know where we will end up or who we will end up with but if we trust God, he will show us the way and bless our faith in his promises. In about 1943, it was decided that although Kingston was relatively unscathed, it was prone to random bombs as the Luftwaffe were returning from their raids, so ...
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