Month: December 2012

Bible reading plans

It is time to think about next years Bible reading plan. Several people have done a great job compiling various plans. No doubt, one of these will suit you. Here are some:

 

Monsieur Bleu

monsieur bleuOn Saturday, I went to the theatre. It was the first time in probably 20 years, at least. Maxime had been given an invitation to a show called “Monsieur Bleu”, and I thought it would be good to spend some time with my boy. We sat on the stage, in front of the two actresses. There were probably about 30 other people, maybe a bit more. Everything was blue. We laughed and had a lot of fun.

The School Christmas show

Once again, the school had organised a Christmas show with the children performing. It’s the third one we go to, and this year’s was the best so far. Only half the school was taking part (the younger ones), so there were less people and the show was much shorter. We had the opportunity to see some faces and catch up with the news. We were glad to be there. At the end of the show, Father Christmas came to distribute sweets to the children.

Our school being a state school, there are no references to Christ, but we are getting used to that.

Book review: You, your family and the Internet (David Clark)

[amazon_link id=”B007UOATZU” target=”_parent” container=”” container_class=”” ]You, Your Family and the Internet[/amazon_link]Internet is everywhere. Whether we use a computer or not, Internet has changed the way we live in a radical way. As someone said: “the web is the biggest media revolution since the printing press”. No one can escape the internet. That’s why Christians need to understand what it is, in order to use it in a way that honor God. But many of those who were brought up before the internet revolution are using it without really understanding it, and those who are being brought up with it are using it without any critical approach. Whether one is an expert or a novice, we must all do our homework and understand something about the web, and how to use it wisely. This book addresses this subject. It has been written with the purpose “to help you think through how best to use the Internet in your own situation”.

It is a subject I’ve been thinking through recently, and I read this little book with interest. I am also the father of 3 boys, and the eldest is getting interested in the computer. Off course, his brother wants to do like him. “You, your family and the Internet” provides a good introduction to those who have little knowledge and understanding of the Internet and how it works. Some might have heard of it’s dangers and are rather suspicious. Others are dismissing those dangers and using the Internet heavily. This little book encourages balance in our approach to the whole matter.

I enjoyed reading it. I found the explanations of how the internet works easy to follow. Its main dangers are clearly outlined, as well as some of its advantages. It provides some helpful principles and it gives some practical advice, without falling into legalism. It is a quick read and it will provide everyone with some foundations for a deeper reflection on this communication revolution. It doesn’t answer all the questions but it definitely will put the readers on the right track.

Christians will still need to be trained to use the Internet though. I don’t think that reading this little book would have prevented the church member who recently fell for a phishing scam after replying to an email pretending to come from her email provider and asking for her login details.

Sometimes, French bureaucracy reminds me of Kafka

I hate bureaucracy, especially filling in forms. I dread receiving papers to fill in. It always takes me ages to fill them in. They end up at the bottom of a pile of stuff, and I remember them after receiving the first or second reminder. And the French system is well known for its intricacies. Our recent experience with French Children benefit has not reconciled me with French Bureaucracy.

When we moved out of the UK, our rights to receive UK children Benefit stopped. That’s fair enough, we were not UK residents any more. After leaving the paperwork for a while, I started filling in the paperwork to get French children benefit. That’s when the Kafkaesque experience started. After sending the paper, it took over a year before we were able to get any money from them. They claimed we were not supposed to get money, because we have a British employer… According to them we were supposed to get UK child benefit. We exchanged a lot of letter, I sent them all the documents I could proving we were declaring our income in France (although it is too low to pay income tax here) and that we could not get UK child benefits. Then it stopped. Eventually, we received a letter saying that we should have received money from them all along. They even back payed all the money they owed us (about 2 years worth). The key words with French Bureaucracy are: patience, patience, patience.