Signs of the Times

March 2003

Michael Schumacher: Marlboro’s Man

When he joined Ferrari, he also became Marlboro’s man, for Marlboro is the main sponsor of the Ferrari team. And the sponsorship figure to Ferrari is believed to be about $US86 million a year. Half (some suggest all) of Schumacher’s $US30 million-or-so a year contract with Ferrari comes from Marlboro.

Rhonda’s Journey to God

I had never read the Bible during my entire life, but I recognised that on many occasions God had been there for me. I got to know Him only late in life. I still find it incredible that God would cause so great a change my life, the result of a chance encounter with a young man and a dog.

Reasons to Immunise

Many who haven’t seen or experienced the epidemics of the past century question the need and safety of childhood immunisation, wondering if the vaccines cause more harm than good.

The Real Cost of Divorce

It doesn’t make me an expert on the subject, but I’ve been through divorce. It has nothing to recommend it. Whether divorce leads to an experience of first freedom or final alienation, exhilaration or desolation, there’s an underlying taste of failure left in one’s mouth. If not a howling rage, then a hollow residue.
How can something that began so right end up so wrong?

What the Gilgamesh Epic Tells Us

The Gilgamesh Epic is the longest poem of antiquity ever discovered. This tale from Babylon contains an account of a great flood, which closely parallels the biblical account of Genesis 6-9.

Take Some Time Off

Time! If only I had more time! In our age of efficiency and technical assistance, we’re still as busy as ever. We’re living increasingly crowded lives, rushing from one appointment or deadline to another. It’s an obvious irony, that as new technology saves time, we still don’t have enough. Despite sophisticated conveniences such as computers, time-saving email and high-speed travel, our free time seems to have evaporated.

And Baby Makes Three . . . Sometimes

Three women, three quite different experiences, three different sets of circumstances. They’re all linked, however, by the same troubling dilemma. Which should come first: marriage or baby?

What’d Be the Odds?

In Pascal’s Pensées, the 17th-century French mathematician and philosopher proposed a mathematical approach to faith. In a formulation now known as Pascal’s Wager, he suggests we can look at the truth of the God of Christianity as a game of chance.

Sarai’s Story

My name is Sarai. I am 18 and a Muslim living in Mogadishu, Somalia, with my two-year-old son, Daude. As long as I can remember, there’s been war here. My parents and I are strict Muslims. They always taught me to respect and fear God. The imam would tell us that the most important thing is to accept the will of God—Inshallah—“Let God’s will be done.”

What About God’s Law?

Jesus identified the difference between true religion and counterfeit—between legalism and love. Legalism looks at the outward act to make sure there’s outward compliance. The difference is in motive.

When Life Was Simpler

We took the baby to church for the first time last week because, quite frankly, we just wanted the attention.
The saints didn’t disappoint: they made a big fuss over him. However, I didn’t appreciate their exclamations of relief that the child doesn’t look like me. Often people would add such comments as: “It’s good he’ll have a chance of a normal life” or simply “We serve a merciful God.” Another interesting comment came from a friend, who said, “Wouldn’t it be great to be a baby without a care in the wold?” Well, I had to think about that.