I know that it is still three weeks until Thanksgiving Day, but there are many things to be thankful for every day and I want to tell you about the things that I am thankful for right now. My wife arrived home Thursday from a nine day stay in Edmonton where she was helping an … Continue reading Things I am thankful for
Author: Bob Goodnough
Eloquent words
I was a member of the Anglican Church of Canada during my youth and a faithful participant in her worship services. The services and prayers of the Book of Common Prayer presented the gospel message in simple, yet eloquent, words and I found comfort in the familiar liturgy. As I entered my twenties, I realized … Continue reading Eloquent words
Squirrel cage economy
Twenty-five years ago I took a course taught by a man who had grown up in India and who had travelled the world. He talked of seeing how coffee, tea and sugar were grown by dirt poor peasant farmers. He described the steps in getting these products to the multinational companies that then processed them … Continue reading Squirrel cage economy
Timidity in the pulpit
If spiritual pastors are to refrain from saying anything that might ever, by any possibility, be misunderstood by anybody, they will end – as in fact many of them do – by never saying anything worth hearing. Incidentally, this particular brand of timidity is the besetting sin of the good churchmen. Dorothy Sayers
Effective Words
It is not a simple thing to learn how to use words to say exactly what one wants to say in the most effective way possible. But the words themselves should be simple. Here is some of the best writing advice I have come across. The first two were written by Canadians, the third by … Continue reading Effective Words
Strange Gospel
Approximately 300 years ago there arose a line of thought in pietistic Protestantism that God’s reign would progressively manifest itself through human action cooperating with God’s action. The belief that the gospel will gradually Christianize the world, bringing a reign of peace and harmony preceding the return of Christ, is known as postmillenialism. In 19th … Continue reading Strange Gospel
The right and wrong use of statistics
[This is an article I wrote a year ago for The Business Bulletin.] A few weeks ago I went into a small town branch of the Royal Bank of Canada with a cheque received for some translation work. The cheque was in US dollars and I asked the teller to convert it to Canadian dollars, … Continue reading The right and wrong use of statistics
Dorothy Sayers on the origin of evil
The orthodox Christian position is . . . [that] the light, and the light only is primary; creation and time and darkness are secondary and begin together. When you come to consider the matter, it is strictly meaningless to say that darkness could precede light in a time process. Where there is no light, there … Continue reading Dorothy Sayers on the origin of evil
Pookie come home
Pookie wasn't here to greet me when I came home Tuesday evening after taking my wife to the airport. Pookie,a little flame point Siamese, showed up on our doorstep two years ago in fall, a feral kitten looking for a home. We didn't need a third cat, but pretty soon he had captured our affection … Continue reading Pookie come home
If wishes were horses . . .
If wishes were horse, I would be in Edmonton with my wife instead of here at home looking after our three cats and trying to keep earning some money. But I supported my wife in leaving on this little one week adventure to help her elderly cousin and visit some of the people we know, … Continue reading If wishes were horses . . .
Flatlander Faith 