Her Sides

I attended the celebration of a man's life with a legacy of kindness. First, I listened as everyone talked about how he had impacted their lives and how much his life had inspired and influenced them. Then I meditated on the words of the various hymns we sang as we celebrated his faith and transitioned into a new life. Lastly, I listened to the preacher's message as he discussed the importance of living a good life here on earth and its influence on life afterwards.  As I listened, as started to think about the words of Solomon and how he sums up what life is truly about in Ecclesiastes 12:13 - Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. We are encouraged to value every moment on earth and use it wisely in reverence and service to our maker. Our time on earth, however long or short, is limited, and we need to approach living with grace, purpose and wisdom.  Teaching and after teaching in the bible encourage us to love God and love each other; beyon...

Written by Folashayo Oke   I spent a whole afternoon with my friends, we had not seen each other in a while, and it was a lovely reunion. We spoke about what we had been doing, the future, relationships, and just generally hung out.   After such a lovely day, it was time to head back home. I got on the northern line to Edgeware, with a broad smile on my face reminiscing on the day I had. Suddenly my daydream was cut short by the voices of a couple arguing; they looked like they were in their mid 50's. The wife seemed furious and yelled on top of her voice, saying she will sue her husband. Her embarrassed kids tried to calm her down to avoid a public display. Her husband had a depressed look, worry lines all over his face, and his eyes were red with fury, he was the description of unhappiness. The kids tried to separate them with tears in their daughter's eyes, pain, confusion, fear, and embarrassment; you could tell that the occurrence wasn't happen...

  “That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him.” Esther 6:1 I often wondered if it was sheer coincidence or if there was a larger force at work in the story the bible passage above talks about. So it happened that a while ago two men, Bigthana and Tersh, were plotting to kill the King. One man, Mordecai, found out about it and informed the Queen Esther and for some reason the King wasn’t told but the act of kindness was recorded in the King’s chronicles.  On that fateful night the King could not sleep and it just so happened that he called for the Chronicles to be read to him and as he listened, the story of how a man saved his life caught his attention. The king inquired if the man had been compensated for his action and was told he hadn’t. That night the Mordecai’s action were both remembered and honoured. When we look around our world today we can see a lot of focus on...

Over the next couple of weeks, I want to take a look at the lives of great women in the Bible who made a difference in history. What’s interesting about these women is that many of them did the most mundane things that changed the course of history and blessed nations forever. So, stay with me as we learn simple life lessons from these courageous women that can change our nations for the better.   Abigail  1 Sam 25:1-42  I love the story of Abigail and David because Abigail was simply a smart woman. The story tells of how David, in his time of need, reached out to Abigail’s husband, Nabal, whom he had helped in the past:   4 "While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. 5 So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. 6 Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours! 7 Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. ...