Wearily upward

How do you wipe your bum? Don't answer that... it's a rhetorical question. It might even be a philosophical one. And it's one I never thought of reflecting on, because I assumed everyone does it the same way. At least until I started thinking about teaching my kids how to wipe their bums. I only realised that there are different methods to this very private action after I got married and we passed the awkward "going to the loo in front of my significant other" phase. {I'm still awkward about this, btw...} TMI? Now, even though wiping one's bum is a very private action (and rightly so!) we, as Christians, can fall into the trap of thinking that the same applies for how we do church. In other words, we can easily assume that my church's way of doing things - whether it is style of worship, using liturgy or not, having kids in or out for the Service, etc. - is the best or right way of doing things; or even the only way of doing things. How wrong we are ...

There's something about watching sport that I really love. Being able to see (and share in) great skill, talent and an immense amount of hard work combined with striving for victory and glory is a privilege. So, with the ICC Cricket World Cup hosted by England and Wales, I've been on cloud nine for the last week. But not really. Being a cricket lover AND South African has made the last week or so very difficult. The South African Cricket team (the Proteas) have gotten themselves labled as 'chokers' (which means they 'choke up' in big games and lose, even when they are in a winning position). This year seems no different as they lost their first three games. And still I hope. Still I support them. Still I want them to win. Setting myself up for inevitable disappointment and despair, maybe? So I thought about hope a lot lately, and was reminded of these verses from Romans: "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering...