From time to time a news story reveals the alleged misbehaviour of a well-known person. What has previously been personal and private is in the headlines and people have views about it, often negative. The pressure on all involved is very great and the long-term consequences may be very serious. Reputations and careers are destroyed,…

Tendai Mtawarira was born in Zimbabwe but now lives in South Africa. Until his retirement in 2019 he was a star prop forward for the Springbok rugby team. He is 6ft 2in and weighs 18st 13lbs. When he was nine years old, he was given a nickname by his schoolmates in Zimbabwe the “Beast”. He…

Last week we were on holiday in Tenby, Pembrokeshire. One evening we were walking around Castle Hill and saw the lifeboat station was open. We went in and saw the lifeboat crew who had just returned from a training exercise and were hosing down their modern Tamar class all-weather lifeboat. The station also has a…

On 22 June 1948 the HMT Empire Windrush docked in Tilbury, Essex, carrying 429 passengers from the Caribbean to fill labour shortages in Britain. These people, many of whom had served in the British armed forces in World War Two, became known as the Windrush Generation. They played a vital role in rebuilding the battered…

The Guinness Book of World Records estimates that more than 5 billion copies of the Bible have been printed. Christians find great help and encouragement from reading the Bible regularly as God speaks to them through it. In Psalm 139 King David reflects on the Lord whom he loves and who knows everything about him;…

The story of the rescue of 4 Colombian children lost in the Amazonian rainforest is a welcome good news story. On 1 May the children and their mother were passengers in a small Cessna 206 plane flying from a jungle area known as Araracuara to the town of San Jose del Guaviare. Just minutes after…

We live in world of suffering and are reminded of it every day. The photographs of the recent rail crash in India show the tangled wreckage of the trains in which, tragically, more than 200 people died and many more were injured. The destruction of countless communities in Ukraine by the Russian forces sent to…

Kenneth Elliot, an Australian doctor kidnapped in Burkina Faso and held captive by al-Qaeda for more than seven years, has finally returned home to his family in Perth. Dr Elliot, who is 88 years old, is safe and well. The family said, “We wish to express our thanks to God and to all who have…

We are enjoying warm and sunny days. So, it is no surprise that students in schools and colleges are sitting exams! Somehow the sun always seems to shine at revision and exam times. It is a very stressful time for the young people sitting important school, college and university exams which have implications for their…

On 28 August 2002 Lyn Connolly came home from shopping to find her husband, Mick, sitting with two strangers. They were detectives who had brought the family some terrible news. The night before their 28-year-old son, Paul, had been murdered by two strangers in a motiveless attack. Paul had been stabbed in the back and…