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Turn the Page
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More to life than we imagined, Turn the Page
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Water of Life
2d ago00:01:02Tap to summarizeIf you are cooling off in the latest heatwave with an ice-cold drink, you might want to raise a glass to Frederick Tudor. Tudor lived in New England in the early 19th century and one day hit upon the idea of selling ice to people in countries where it was hot. Everyone thought he was mad. Firstly, there was no demand and secondly, all the ice was sure to melt before it reached its destination. But he didn’t give up and gradually persuaded people that cold drinks were a good idea. He also worked out how to insulate the ice in transit, using sawdust and wood shavings. One shipment left Boston carrying 180 tons of ice and arrived months later in Calcutta with 100 tons left. It turned out that he was genius and not a fool. Someone else who was considered a fool but to whom we should be similarly grateful is Noah. One day he hit upon the idea of building a boat. But he lived in a desert where it hadn’t rained for years. Like Tudor, everyone laughed. But he was convinced he was right and no matter how much he was mocked he kept going, and in the end was proved right. Tudor’s perseverance led to the widespread availability of cold drinks. Noah’s would one day lead to the widespread availability of the water of life found in Jesus who said, ‘whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst’. The post Water of Life appeared first on Turn the Page.
Transcribe →Dying words
2w ago00:01:10Tap to summarizeSteven Spielberg’s famous film Saving Private Ryan begins with a graphic portrayal of the D-Day landings on Omaha beach. Thousands lose their lives during the assault. But then comes news that Private Ryan’s three brothers have all been killed in quick succession and to spare his mother further grief the order is given to find him and bring him home. Captain Miller is tasked with the rescue and sets off into enemy occupied Normandy to find Ryan. Along the way most of his team are killed, and in a final scene Miller himself is mortally wounded. With his last breath he whispers to Ryan, ‘Earn this, earn it.’ The film closes with Ryan as an old man weeping by Miller’s grave. He turns to his wife and asks, ‘Tell me I’ve lived a good life. Am I a good man?’ Miller’s last words left a legacy of doubt and uncertainty that have haunted Ryan. What a contrast to the dying words of Jesus on the cross who said, ‘It is finished’. Not a cry of defeat but one of victory. Unlike Miller’s death which saved just one man, Jesus’s death in our place, paying the price for our sin, sets free all those who come to him. The post Dying words appeared first on Turn the Page.
Transcribe →The love of money
3w ago00:01:11Tap to summarizeThe list of goods purchased by Peter Murrell using embezzled SNP funds reads like the items on the Generation Game conveyer belt: a Nintendo Switch, a selection of video games, a necklace, a Miele coffee machine, a luxury Bremont watch, a selection of DVDs, a GoPro camera, a onesie. The list goes on and on. Sadly, Murrell wasn’t a finalist on a game show but abusing his position as treasurer to steal. He wasn’t the first and he won’t be the last. No wonder the Bible warns against the love of money as a root of all kinds of evil and urges us to be content with what we have. In the Old Testament Book of Proverbs, the writer prays that God would give him ‘neither poverty nor riches…but only my daily bread’. Why? Because poverty might lead him to steal and riches to a life not dependent on God. Jesus once cautioned a rich young man that his love of wealth was preventing him from entering the Kingdom of Heaven. He told his followers that they couldn’t serve God and money. They had to choose one or the other. Murrell made his choice and will now have to pay the price. What will we choose? The post The love of money appeared first on Turn the Page.
Transcribe →Remember you are mortal
Apr 2100:01:08Tap to summarizeIn a world in which political leaders are prone to exalt themselves and cling on to power as if they were indispensable, we might be wise to take a lesson from the Romans. A victorious general returning from war would be given quite the homecoming. Their triumphal procession through the city would last all day or sometimes even two. Carried in a horse-drawn chariot the general would be preceded by prisoners and other spoils of war and followed by his troops. Dressed in a red toga to imitate Mars the god of war, he would make his way to the temple of Jupiter. For the adoring crowds the general would take on a god-like status. Such adulation might easily go to his head. He might begin to think more of himself than he ought. For that reason, he had company in the chariot as he rode around the city. A slave stood behind him the whole way whispering in his ear ‘Remember you are mortal’. These are wise words to bear in mind when any of us are tempted to assume an importance that we do not merit. Not for nothing does the season of Lent begin with these words from Genesis, ‘Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return’. The post Remember you are mortal appeared first on Turn the Page.
Transcribe →Get off that ship!
Apr 1300:01:10Tap to summarizeOn 10th April 1912 Father Robert Browne boarded the RMS Titanic for her maiden voyage. He had been gifted a ticket by his uncle to sail from Southampton to Queenstown* in Ireland, her last stop before the transatlantic crossing. But while at sea he made friends with a wealthy American couple who so enjoyed his company they offered to pay for him to travel all the way to New York. He needed permission from his superior to do so but the reply to his telegraph was unambiguous – ‘Get off that ship’. He did so and his obedience saved his life. The message of Jesus is surprisingly similar. In Mark’s Gospel his first recorded words include a command for us to repent, which might just as well be translated ‘Get off that ship!’ Most of us are living lives our own way and perhaps, like Browne, are tempted to pursue a course that looks to be filled with pleasure and luxury. But Jesus’ invitation to repent is a call to turn our lives around and instead of facing away from God to walk towards him and embrace the fulness of life that he promises. When we do so we will discover, like Browne, that our obedience has saved our lives. *Renamed Cobh in 1920 The post Get off that ship! appeared first on Turn the Page.
Transcribe →Clearing up our waste
Mar 2500:01:06Tap to summarizeClearing up other people’s waste is extremely costly. Across Britain today there are hundreds of sites containing tonnes of waste, and eleven have now been labelled ‘supersites’ with more than 20,000 tonnes each. The cost of the clear up is unknown but will run into millions of pounds with one site alone costing more than £9m. The problem is some people don’t want to have to pay to get rid of their waste. They would rather dump it on others and let them pay the cost. But how fair is that? In life too our selfish hearts accumulate all kinds of waste which we don’t know what to do with. Sometimes we try burying it but generally it spills over and others end up paying the price. How often have we thought, said or done something that we wish we hadn’t? The overflow of waste, the effect of our falling short of God’s standards, the collateral damage caused by sin. If only there were someone who could clear up the mess; someone willing to pay the price. Well, there is. His name is Jesus and 2,000 years ago he died in the Jerusalem rubbish tip, giving his life so that we could be clean. The post Clearing up our waste appeared first on Turn the Page.
Transcribe →Time to unpack
Mar 1800:01:10Tap to summarizeThe TV series Sort Your Life Out features families overwhelmed by the number of possessions and the amount of clutter that is filling their homes. They simply don’t know where to begin. The first step involves removing everything and laying it all out in a huge warehouse. Next, they are guided through the process of deciding what to keep and what to give up. It’s astonishing to see quite how much one family can accumulate, from thousands of toys to dozens of pairs of shoes and, in one case, 521 odd socks. It strikes me that we might think of Lent as an opportunity to sort our lives out but in a different way. Over the course of time our lives fill up with clutter – bad habits, resentments, grievances, losses, and despair. If we’re not careful we may find ourselves feeling overwhelmed. Used rightly Lent is a season for self-examination, an opportunity to lay everything out before God and seek his help to sort through the clutter. In the TV series Stacey Solomon is the kindest of guides through what can be a very emotional process. If we will allow him Jesus will be our guide as we look honestly at our lives and decide what we may keep and what must go. The post Time to unpack appeared first on Turn the Page.
Transcribe →A mother’s love
Mar 1200:01:05Tap to summarizeIn 1943 Anna Jarvis campaigned to have Mother’s Day cancelled in America. This might not have been anything to note had she not been the person who had done so much to promote it in the first place. On 10thMay 1908 she held a memorial ceremony to celebrate motherhood in her church at Grafton, West Virginia, and by 1914 it had become established as a national holiday. But over the years it became an opportunity to make money selling cards, flowers and chocolates and it was this that Anna railed against. She complained that ‘a printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to mother and then eat most of it yourself’. Anna wanted children to think deeply about their mother’s sacrificial love. Perhaps in this she was inspired by her Christian faith and her belief in a God who had shown her so much sacrificial love. A God who sent his only son to die on a cross. In her eyes her mother’s love reflected the love of God and both demanded a heartfelt response. The post A mother’s love appeared first on Turn the Page.
Transcribe →Come here – I want to see you
Mar 500:01:31Tap to summarizeOn 10th March 1876 Alexander Graham Bell uttered the immortal words, ‘Mr Watson – come here – I want to see you’. It was the first telephone call ever made. This was cutting edge technology that would change the world forever. It was the Victorian age when human progress seemed unstoppable, and people were dreaming dreams about what the future might look like. Hard on the heels of the telephone came dreams of the telectroscope, a device that could send both sound and pictures across vast distances. It would be decades before it became reality, but the dream was there. In a similar way the Bible encourages us to dream dreams about a future world that seems fantastical. In the Old Testament Isaiah prophesies, ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’. The last book of the Bible fills in some of the blanks, describing this new world as one without death, mourning, crying or pain. To us, such a future might seem as incredible as one with a telectroscope did to the Victorians. They would be amazed at the world we now inhabit and one day so will we. The post Come here – I want to see you appeared first on Turn the Page.
Transcribe →No one above the law
Feb 2500:01:05Tap to summarizeIn a recent interview the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, declared, ‘one of the core principles in our system is that everybody is equal under the law and nobody is above the law’. This means that regardless of your status in society the law applies to you and no one is at liberty to disregard it. The problem, of course, is that some people do see them themselves as being above the law. They hope that the power and influence they yield will make them immune from accountability; and, sadly, many do get away with crimes for which they should be held to account. But we need not despair. On all these counts the Bible has good news. Firstly, St Paul tells us that ‘all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’. We are all under God’s law and we have all broken it. Secondly, no one gets away with anything, the writer of the Book of Hebrews telling us that we die once and after that comes judgement. Thirdly, and most importantly, in Jesus we have a Saviour who on the cross paid the price for all our sins. In him we find forgiveness, freedom and eternal life. The post No one above the law appeared first on Turn the Page.
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