Yesterday, was a significant time for me personally as I stood down from being chair of SHAN.

Election of a speaker for the US House of Representatives

I woke up this morning to seeing the following online BBC news headline: “Kevin McCarthy elected US House Speaker after 15 rounds of voting” but was not surprised that enough detractors had been persuaded to vote for Kevin McCarthy, for him to occupy the influential position of speaker of the US House of Representatives. Check out here for video footage of when “Rep. Kevin McCarthy Becomes Speaker of the House”.

David and Absalom

In our previous installment concerning the life of David, as related to the “David and Bathsheba” episode, we read the sobering prophecy by Nathan. Some years later, this was exactly fulfilled, with David’s son, Absalom, being the major instrument.

Don’t do anything that might see you ending up in A&E

That sage advice was given me by my nearest and dearest. But first let me backtrack and explain …

Looking back at 2022; looking forward to 2023

I write this on the last day of 2022.

David and Bathsheba

The two stories most widely known concerning David are firstly his fight with Goliath and secondly his affair with Bathsheba. In the first, he showed courage and, in the second, he showed cowardice.

Pele: Brazil football legend dies aged 82

That was the title of BBC’s online sport headline, which informed me of the death of the great man. I understand Pele had been ill for some time and his death, while peaceful, came as no surprise.

David and Jonathan

Perhaps, the most beautiful sub plot in the long story of David is the friendship David had with Jonathan, the son of King Saul.

“Yes Minister”, a socialist and a socialite; a modernist and a traditionalist

David and Saul

In Part 1 of our “David” series, we established how God chose David to replace Saul as King of Israel as he was a man after God’s own heart, who saw something others failed to see, and in Part 2 we found compelling evidence why this was so when took on the giant, Goliath, who had defied the armies of the living God.