Above all else

I am a Christian.  One of the things I am most proud about is the culture of "turn the other cheek" and not retaliating against provocation, that most of the church has been demonstrating.  Over the last couple of decades, an aggressive secularism has become mainstream.  Sneering at Christianity has become the norm in both traditional and social media.  It's cool to heckle and mock Christians, particularly in the light of some recent local news. There are two reasons for the above: first, Christianity is, by its inherent tenets, an outward looking faith i.e. it is not principally a means to self-realisation and fulfilment e.g. "inner peace".  Believers are called to called to look upward and outward, not upward and inward.  Acts 1:8 says "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth ." Therefore the Christian faith inextricably involves witnessing to others. While God certainly is not deceiv...

So I went to a father-child camp last weekend with my boy.  We packed a tent, sleeping bags, mosquito repellent, mess tins, solid fuel and precious little experience as to how exactly to do this!  Before we left, I told my wife I'd never set up a tent before, and she looked at me funny and said, "Didn't you spend years and years in the army and reservist?"  To which I explained, "Army where got tent?  We just slump to the ground and fall asleep in the mud!" Thankfully, these modern tents turned out to be surprisingly easy to set up - 10 minutes and we were done!  But the less said about our mess tin dinner cooked over solid fuel stove, the better :P There were about 30+ Dads at the camp, together with their kids, ranging from around 7-15 years old by my guess.  Old Dads, young Dads, macho Dads, geek Dads, all kinds of Dads.  And of course, all manner of kids too - cool kids, nerd kids, Energizer-bunny kids, shy kids. In the eyes of the world,...