A few weeks ago, Bobby died. It happened quite quickly. On Thursday, he was sitting merrily on his perch. On Friday, he was shivering and looking pretty unimpressed with life. On Saturday morning, he was standing on the floor of the cage with his eyes half open, rocking back and forth. At lunchtime, when the kids and I took him to the vet, he had decided it would be best to have a little lie down. The vet was kind but decisive.

We took Bobby home in a very small plastic bag. There were tears. My wife's former history teacher (that's a whole other story) dug a hole in the backyard, and another friend of ours found a little mournful-looking stone dog to act as headstone. Family, friends and the former history teacher prayed together that God would comfort us in our loss.

Then came the inevitable question from the 6-year-old: “Is Bobby in heaven now?” Hmm. I know that there will be a new, physical creation (Isa 65:17), and it seems like the new creation will contain, at the very least, contented wolves, baby sheep, lions, cattle and humiliated snakes (Isa 65:25). But will there be a spiritual continuity of identity between the Bobby we knew and a particular budgie in the hereafter? There didn't seem to be enough biblical data to form a meaningful answer. So I answered as I only could: “The Bible doesn't say”.

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The [incident] involving rugby league personality Matthew Johns was predatory, degrading and offensive, federal Sports Minister Kate Ellis says ... “I think that's offensive and inappropriate for our sporting role models.”

But where does that leave the Apostle Paul?

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For those who have been following, our Saturday ‘Factotum’ series has come to an end! And so the question naturally arises: what do we do next? Flicking through some old Briefings, I came across a fascinating article on prayer by Broughton Knox, an ex-principal of Moore College. In it, he lists seven principles of prayer—biblical principles that will encourage us and challenge us to remember again the wonderful gift of talking to our heavenly Father.

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We read the Bible as a family each night after dinner. On this particular night, the story is the feeding of the 5000. Well, more specifically, the feeding of the five thousand men.

My daughter's face told a story that her question confirmed: “Dad, why did they only count the men? Didn't they care about women back then? Were women less important?”

What's a dad to say to that?

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Australia's federal government is seeking to introduce a nation paid maternity leave scheme in this year's budget.

I not sure whether I'm for or against the policy itself. But I know I'm against the reasons being advanced for the policy!

Basically the reasoning being advanced implies that (i) motherhood is unproductive and (ii) it gives aid to the now established dogma that the two incomes needed to pay off the mortgage are more important than quality and quantity time with the kids.

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Psalm 53, to be precise.

Psalm 53:5, to be preciser.

Okay, so if you really wanted to connect the gospel with the people in the community, you just know intuitively that telling them that they're under judgement is marketing suicide. It's a bit like selling your medicine by asking people to come along to a discussion group so that they can share about their favourite disease.

Christians who believe judgement is real often respond, therefore, by hiding the information about God's wrath inside the fine print of their mind. After all, they reason, the Bible reserves its worst words of judgement for religious insiders.

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I loved Jean's post on the tongue-tied Christian who struggles with the snappy response to evangelistic opportunities that open up in conversations. I guess I recognized myself in the mirror.

By providence, I'd just begun reading a book on evangelism and apologetics by Greg Koukl called Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing your Christian Convictions.

Although he talks about “controlling conversations” in a way I'm not quite comfortable with, so far, there's stacks that's helpful.

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I've never been one for thinking about angels much. Nor have I thought much about how Jesus changed life in heaven. I mean, I'm sure it's all very interesting; it's just not very practical really.

Wrong!

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In last week's ‘Factotum’, Col put a flea in our ears. Would you consider doing less work to help out with some ministry or other? This week, he examines some of the practicalities of wrestling with the question.

Now that that flea is buzzing around, already annoying the life out of you, you may have a few questions to ask—polite ones, of course:

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Why does the second half of Isaiah 30 have to be so offensive? It starts with God marching out to war against Israel's enemies, his face furious with anger, his sleeves rolled up for battle, his breath a stream of sulfurous fire. This is challenging enough in a primitive-wrathful-deity-of-the-Old-Testament kind of way. You've heard these objections. You might even have made them in your own heart.

But Isaiah then adds a detail that is even more objectionable.

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