preparing the way
On July 21, 2013, media outlets worldwide held their collective breath as they waited for the birth of the child of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The baby was third in line to the British throne, and so when Prince George was born the next day there was hardly a newspaper or news program that didn’t herald the announcement front and center.
stuff of legends
The 2012 film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit tells the story of a band of dwarves seeking to recapture their lost mountain kingdom from an evil dragon.
the King’s speech
The film The King’s Speech is based on the true story of England’s King George VI. After his brother abdicated the throne in the late 1930s, the new king enlisted the help of an unconventional speech therapist to overcome his problem with stuttering. Together, they worked to find the king’s clear voice and his ability to deliver a stirring speech that his nation could stand behind as it prepared to stand against Nazi aggression.
the critical move
Mystery novelist Agatha Christie once suggested that the best way to tell a story that will leave an audience guessing to the end is to conceal the “critical move” with a “big move.” A mysterious movie that stumped me till the end is The Sixth Sense. The big move was a therapist who started to see a young boy who claimed to see dead people. The critical move that took countless viewers by surprise [spoiler alert] was that the therapist later learned that the reason the young boy “saw” him was because he himself was actually dead.
a king born for all
Scene one: A stable in Bethlehem, Judea. There, a group of shepherds kneel before a baby sleeping in a feeding trough (Luke 2:8-20). The society of the day despises these grimy, unclean shepherds, and they can’t believe they’re here. How could they have been given such a privilege?
identity tags
In 2010, an estimated 10.8 million babies were born every month—meaning 362,000 babies were born every day, four babies every second. So if the future king of the world was born today, how would you know where to find this newborn monarch among the thousands of other little bundles of joy? Thankfully, in most hospitals, a baby is given a tag that identifies who the baby belongs to.
fit for a king?
Singapore is a democratic state. It was a British colony for 150 years and had a string of kings and queens during that time period. But now democracy rules the day!
In 1 Samuel 8 we find the people of Israel demanding a king (see also 1 Samuel 10:17-19, 12:6-18).
Why did they want a royal ruler? At first glance…
pictures of Jesus
The story of Jesus is presented in four different Gospels, each capturing His life from an individual writer’s unique perspective. It’s been said that Matthew presents Jesus as the King who comes to reign and rule; Mark portrays the Servant who comes to serve and suffer; Luke describes the Son of Man who comes to share and sympathize; and John…
