All Regular Columnists articles – Page 10
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Regular ColumnistsStep away from the plate
Fasting. It’s one of my least favourite things. There are absolutely no benefits that I can think of, and personally I’m against it. I rather fear that there’s been a terrible spelling error, resulting in thousands depriving themselves of food through the centuries, and all because of a lash-up by an errant Friday afternoon scribe.
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Regular ColumnistsTaking Jesus to the movies
Kathleen has an unusual hobby. She likes to take Jesus to the movies. In this case, Jesus goes by the name of Barney.
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Regular ColumnistsOffloading
I have just returned from a trip to one of my favourite places. Visiting this particular destination is always refreshing; a minibreak there never fails to re-energise me. Checking in is always a breeze, and it’s very inexpensive. I go every week.
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Regular ColumnistsShouty Church
It was a provocative slant on the Easter story. Last April, broadcaster and journalist Janet Street-Porter made a poignant observation about the society we’re becoming, and suggested that we’re using technology like a rabble of loud bullies.
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Regular ColumnistsThe haircut
Hairdressers often make great evangelists. For one thing, they have a captive audience, keen to chat beyond the standard conversational fodder that they (and taxi drivers everywhere) have to endure: ‘So, have you been busy?’.
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Regular ColumnistsSlow up
I stared at the envelope and tried to halt the rising feeling of dread that sickened my stomach. Printed on the corner of the stern brown stationery was the Surrey constabulary’s logo. Meldrew-like, I could not believe it. I had been caught speeding yet again; the hapless target of a motorway camera.
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Regular Columnists
Age before beauty
School taught me how many wives Henry VIII had, helped me glean information about Australia’s mining industry and even taught me the French word for ‘station’, but nobody told me anything about the one thing you never believe will happen when you’re young but happens to every human on the planet.
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Regular ColumnistsUngenerous generation
Meanness is ugly. Grabbing is unattractive. Last November’s Black Friday event was dark indeed, as the retail sector’s excuse for a greed-fuelled shopping frenzy sparked scuffles and scrums across the country.
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Regular ColumnistsThe Night Caller
It’s 1.20am and my mobile is ringing. Loudly. A shrill ringtone, one I selected during a moment of madness, pierces through the thick layers of sleep.
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Regular ColumnistsNo Turning Back
It all started when I lost my feet. Unable to see them because of the partial eclipse of a spreading abdomen, and becoming quite breathless after navigating a single flight of stairs, I decided to get fit.
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Regular ColumnistsDoes Jesus disappoint?
After four decades of being a Christian, I confess: I am disappointed with Jesus. He hasn’t delivered as anticipated.
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Regular ColumnistsAm I thinking what you're thinking?
I was delighted to be in Australia, despite the disconcerting reality that this is a nation with a bewildering number of options for those who’d like to get killed by wildlife.
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Regular ColumnistsOffensive Grace
It’s been an odd 24 hours. I’ve been sworn at by half a dozen people, none of whom know me or one another, but apparently despise me nevertheless. I received three messages from one young mother telling me that I made her sick to her stomach and that I surely couldn’t be a parent. In one particularly vitriolic email, I was advised that I’m as bad as a child molester.
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Regular ColumnistsLet us pray
I’ve never been much good at prayer. Perhaps I need to join a group. ‘Hi. My name is Jeff, and I’m addicted to activity...and conversation.’
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Regular ColumnistsLove the moment
Growing up means that you are supposed to leave childish behaviour behind. I've think I've largely succeeded. If you disagree, I won’t play with you any more, so there.
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Regular ColumnistsSmall choices
Smiling doesn’t come easily to me. I’m not Victor Meldrew with a Bible, a practised misery with facial features permanently arranged in a gloomy scowl. And I don’t see life as a safari, ever hunting for more opportunities to frown.
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Regular ColumnistsJeff Lucas: Tents Moments
Before embarking on the Christian journey, I was warned that the pathway ahead might be littered with perils ...
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Regular ColumnistsJeff Lucas: Life before death... and after
Sometimes important things slip from my mind. A person at church asks me for prayer, and panic sets in because I realise that I can’t remember their name.
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Regular ColumnistsTougher than nails
Christians don’t usually arm themselves with crowbars. But on a crisp autumnal day, Kathleen Folden, a truck driver, marched into our local museum, and began smashing the glass that surrounded a painting by a Stanford-based artist, Enrique Chagoya.
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Regular ColumnistsJeff Lucas: Longing for a King
My encounters with the royal family have been limited. I’d love to be able to say that I’ve spent happy days hobnobbing with the Windsors but, alas, it’s just not true.
