There is fruit

Great to have an opportunity to teach from Titus and to see evidence of fruit on a quiet island. A couple of ladies from Orthodox backgrounds regularly take part in mid week Bible study and we're part of a small congregation of about 12.

Against my wishes (and probably against their better judgement) I ended up leading the whole meeting, probably leaving out several normal elements of a Greek Evangelical morning meeting, but I doubt they were crucial!

As far as I can tell it made sense and will hopefully be of some encouragement. Yet again, let's be liberated by the great simplicity of the biblical strategy for the growth of the gospel: believe it, preach it, live it out well and publicly. Not only is that how the gospel goes out, but it is also, if we'll believe the scripture, the good life.

Going to church by boat

I'm teaching Titus 3 at a small summer congregation on the island of Aigina (an hour from Piraeus) this morning.

No idea what to expect but I'm wondering how one would set out to live deliberately for the progress of the gospel when you spend most of your summer months on a peaceful little island. I imagine such a set up could make one feel a long way from the front line. At the same time, the gospel of the grace of God to us in Jesus trains us to love to do good, even on holiday, which is just what Titus 3 teaches (among other things).

Almost brilliant advice

On the way to the airport a solar energy company has a highly visible advert. We've tried to take pictures a couple of times and here's the best we've managed.

But for a wrong vowel it is the best advice (command really) they could give us. Free too.

Imagine Paros

I was on my bike behind this bus today and I did as the advert told me, and thought I would invite you to do the same. It's not too late to join us on the team! Have a look at this for more info.

Religious put-downs

On the way to church, got chatting to the old ladies about which church we're off to. 'They're all religions', says one. 'Ah', says the other, 'they're all religions but Orthodoxy came from the mouth of Christ' and was off the bus before you could say sufficiency of Scripture.

A little glimpse of daily life

I'm on the school run. 

Esther with preschool portacabin

Our older three have been at school in portacabins since October 2010, and will be until the new school building (on the site of the old one) is completed, allegedly this summer. They're making good progress. 

Parish church 

Opposite the new school is the Orthodox parish church building, on a pleasant square (which would be a great place to live near if the church bells weren't so loud - goodbye lie-ins), which now has a lovely nice new pavement - see below.

The new school building in progress

Next door is the high school, which is where our kids will go if we've not moved by then (no plans for that) and if we decide that keeping the kids in the Greek state system is the best thing to do (about which more in a year or so when it becomes a live issue for Joel. There are significant pros and cons, at least from the perspective that we have at the moment).

Work continues on the last bit

Anyway, the pavement.

The old pavement was perfectly fine. It had plenty of chewing gum (don't get me started) and was grey not yellow, but it really didn't need replacing. Even if Greece discovered oil.


It was level, had an appropriate level of friction, even when wet, and did its job better than many of Athens' pavements, which is to say it made it possible to walk across it without particularly thinking about it. It was inoffensive to eye, nose and foot.



But it was decided that it needed replacing.

Old (grey and chewing gummed!) and new (golden) in contrast

I have no idea how many euros it costs to replace a pavement, a job that has so far lasted about a month. There is a cynical one-liner doing the rounds - λεφτά υπάρχουν (there is money). It's just that it isn't being used very well. Financial crisis? Perhaps, but integrity and wisdom might be more useful at the moment. If you're going to fix pavements, at least do the ones with massive holes in them.

The Christian Mind

Bob Horn was the General Secretary of UCCF while we were students and young staff with the British IFES movement. He was a significant influence on me (and many others) and a lovely man. 


Shortly before he died he recommended I read Harry Blamires' 'The Christian Mind'. I found it in the smallest second hand book sale I've ever come across (there were about 50 books on a table, and I can't remember where we were) and snapped it up. I only started reading it at Easter but it's a superb little book. The writing is ascerbic and incisive and the thesis important - who cares that it was written in the 60s and represents an England that has changed enormously since then?

When I've finished I'll perhaps review it but here's a quote (from a chapter called 'The Christian Mind: its awareness of evil'):


A peculiar quality of the Christian mind is that, knowing the weakness of human nature, it expects conflict in the moral sphere. It assumes that the powers of evil will exploit every possible occasion for drawing men into the mental confusion of blurred concepts and twisted values. There is about the Christian mind a peculiar hardness - a refusal to be surprised at evil and depravity; an inability to be overcome by shock; an expectation that evil will be at large when God is not. Hence its cultivated suspiciousness of that which currently passes muster, in any powerful worldly circle, as the right thing. Hence, in the moral sphere, its zealous attention to the thin ends of wedges. It knows how evil grows.


This is one eminently quotable book. If you see it lying around in a second hand shop, buy it without hesitation and give it a good home.