Have you ever needed someone to speak up for you? It could have been informally in a social setting or even in a family. Perhaps you’e needed it in a formal setting of a work tribunal or law court?
Unless an advocate will be listened to and cares enough to intervene on your behalf for a better outcome he or she is of little value to you.
The sad truth is that landslides result in many deaths the world over every year, sometimes wiping out whole communities – 2000 people were killed by one in Peru in 1962. The most common cause is erosion which leads to loss of stable ground and then to a collapse just as with this cliff face.
If belief in God is likened to a cliff, what are the corrosive forces that might lead to a collapse?
Wind and weather come together – one brings the other. What they both have in common is that they are very changeable and unpredictable even to the best red-faced forecasters.
If a weather vane cannot be relied upon as an accurate weather forecaster, then something that is a fixed point is needed for safe navigation – how about magnetic north?
This looks to be a psychotic crab with an identity crisis! Have you ever struggled with an inner anguish? Such an internal storm may be invisible to those outside or there may be tell-tale signs in one’s behaviour. When extreme, it is a dangerous state making a person vulnerable to feelings of worthlessness, self-harming and even suicide. There are so many causes – gender confusion, guilt, insecurity, sexual ethics and bereavement to name a few. It could also be around money issues, breakdown in relationships or a sense of inadequacy. There are more people suffering this inner pain than we like to admit – it is likely that there are those around you carrying this heavy load unbeknown to others. Perhaps you are suffering or have suffered in this way?
There are many different kinds of barriers which can have either a positive or negative effect. These old groynes were intended to stop coastline erosion and protect beach habitat.
As you see, they are now broken down in many places and no longer really functional. The word groyne (groin in the USA) comes from the Old French groign and Late Latin grunium meaning ‘snout’ which is appropriate as it sticks out from the shore into a body of water!
Lake Erie is a huge stretch of water at 241 miles long by 57 miles wide and 210 feet in depth at its deepest point. It is the fourth largest of North America’s five Great Lakes and the eleventh largest in the world. It can be navigated safely and yet it has over 2000 shipwrecks of all sizes. There are many coastlines with hidden dangers that have claimed thousands of ships and their crews.
Cement is not meant to be walked in! However, these steps and pawprints reflect the love and faithfulness of this dog for its master which is saved for posterity! In the old carol about Good King Wenceslas, we see the monarch and his page stepping out in harsh cold weather to show kindness to a household in poverty. They set out together to take food, wine and logs for a poor man. The King makes it easier for his servant in making a safe way through the thick snow:
This tree is seen in its natural beauty before being cut to become a centrepiece for Christmas festivities – unlike the chicken laying an egg, the Christmas Tree is more akin to a pig sacrificing everything for the bacon! Every year, many households across the nations like to bring in a conifer like this to decorate as part of celebrations for this season, although Russians were forbidden to do this during Marxist times so used it to celebrate the New Year. The origins of adopting a fir tree for Christmas are disputed although it seems that celebrations in pagan times involved the worship of trees, sometimes with them being decorated and then burnt. Perhaps it is not so different these days!
If you were to ask Vincent Van Gogh about his life story, you would either get a complex answer or a picture like ‘The Starry Night’. He was the son of a pastor and wanted to become a minister but his complicated road led him instead to serve God through artistic expression, as he said: ‘to try to understand the real significance of what the great artists, the serious masters, tell us in their masterpieces, that leads to God.
The world-famous Kew Gardens holds many wonders from the natural world which are easily missed because there are so many of them in one place. It also has beautiful and thought-provoking internal exhibitions within the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art. This photo shows one of them – thousands of tiny metal intricately shaped trees are placed in sand. On one side they are black. As you walk alongside, they become invisible, but when you pass them and look back you see each one is painted in colours.
