Book recommendation: Wild at Heart By John Eldredge Eldredge claims that men are bored; they fear risk, they refuse to pay attention to their deepest desires. He challenges Christian men to return to what he characterizes as authentic masculinity without resorting to a “macho man” mentality. Men often seek validation in venues such as work, or in the conquest of women, Eldredge observes. He urges men to take time out and come to grips with the desires of their hearts. Wild at Heart invites you on a journey into the wilderness of your own heart. It’s a thrilling exploration of authentic masc ..read more

Book recommendations: Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul by John and Stasi Eldregde Every woman was once a little girl. And every little girl holds in her heart her most precious dreams. She longs to be swept up into a romance, to play an irreplaceable role in a great adventure, to” be” the Beauty of the story. And yet―how many women do you know who ever find that life? Most women think they have to settle for a life of efficiency and duty, striving to be the women they “ought” to be but often feeling they have failed. Sadly, too many messages for Christian women add ..read more

C is for CHARACTER When you are searching for a soul mate, THE most important thing you should be looking for is CHARACTER. But strangely character never seems to come high up on people’s lists when you ask them what their ideal partner is going to be like. We have all heard the classic “tall, dark and handsome” as the ideal attributes that women (or fairy tale princesses) are looking for. So here’s something to think about – a choice: – Man A is talk dark and handsome but he’s also unkind, unfaithful and particularly mean. Man B is also tall, dark and handsome but he is known for his kindn ..read more

Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren In the overlooked moments and routines of our day, we can become aware of God’s presence in surprising ways. How do we embrace the sacred in the ordinary and the ordinary in the sacred? Framed around one typical day, this book explores life through the lens of liturgy—small practices and habits that form us. In each chapter, Tish Harrison Warren considers a common daily experience—making the bed, brushing her teeth, losing her keys. Drawing from the diversity of her life as a campus minister, Anglican pr ..read more

How to make a long-distance relationship work If you’re searching for a Christian for a long-term relationship, then the pool you’re ‘fishing’ in is smaller than if finding a Christian wasn’t part of your criteria. With a smaller pool then, you will have to expand the area you’re looking in – and if you’ve spent any time around us you’ll know we are always encouraging our members not to consider distance as any major criteria but to consider everyone – wherever – or despite of – where they live.  After all distance differences are only a short-term problem. So on the basis that you’ve ..read more

How to Love God But whoever loves God is known by God. – 1 Corinthians 8:3 It’s a simple thing to say you love God but harder to reflect that love in the way you live. And there’s a big difference between loving God in the best way you know how and loving Him in the way He tells you to. You show your love for God two ways: obeying His commands and loving the way He loves. Paul observed that “Knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know” (1 Corinthians 8:1-2 NIV). In other words, if you think you know everything about love ..read more

Scams and Scammers – Be Warned and Prepared We’ve all heard of people being scammed – the news is full of it. Pension scams, banking scams and very often dating scams. I consider myself to be intelligent and scam aware. But I have been scammed within my own dating organisation, and if I can be, I’m sure you can be too. Please read on so that you can be forewarned and protected from being scammed yourself. Here’s what happened. One of our elderly gentleman members and I had been in touch by email (and text) about his recent marriage. He’d sent us in his story and some lovely pictures of thei ..read more

B is for Beauty The second letter of the alphabet B and the second of our dating attributes stands for BEAUTY. Now I am sure men reading this will be thinking “Yes’! Beauty is a very important criterion for me – a woman must be beautiful if I am to contact her.” And although women may phrase it slightly differently, looks are important to us too I know. But it is not facial features or bone structure or height or hair colour that I am talking about here. No, the B for Beauty I want to bring to your attention is the inner beauty that is in each of us. As Christians we know we are made in the ..read more

Many things in daily life can remind us how important God’s timing can be. We had some long-term guests move out of our house a few weeks ago, and as I was cleaning their room I found an orchid plant that looked pretty dead. I was about to throw it out when my husband persuaded me not to.  I am not very green fingered, and most plants under my care don’t thrive. I wasn’t so keen on his decision, as this plant (if it was even alive) just looked like a rather shrivelled up old twig – attached to a small thin stick to keep it upright – with gangly roots coming out at the bottom. I’m sure ..read more

Never stop learning We can all have a lesson to learn. I listen to radio 4 and recently I heard a very good programme about knowledge and ignorance. The man was saying how for years in his peer group he’d been afraid of speaking up when a topic was being discussed that he knew nothing about, and that rather than admitting that he couldn’t contribute, he’d nod wisely as if he knew what they were all talking about so as not to look stupid. I didn’t think much more about it but then a few days later I was visiting a friend who’d had business trip to Barcelona and in her day off had been thrill ..read more