Author name: Tom Stuart

Watchout! – I am radioactive!

3 Comments / News & Reflections, Window into my Soul /

As I write this I am living in isolation. My 3 day confinement in my home is not one of punishment, estrangement nor as a recluse. It is imposed upon me for the sake of others’ protection because I am radioactive. Yes, as in atomic radiation – half-life decay and Geiger counters.

You see I took a radioactive iodine pill this morning for the purpose of killing off any remaining thyroid cancer cells in my body. My therapy is the standard treatment for someone who has had a cancerous thyroid removed. It has been used for over thirty years and is typically prescribed six weeks after the surgery.

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2 times you should take Scripture out of context

5 Comments / Growth & Development /

You have probably heard the story about the man looking for direction from the Bible using what is called the close your eyes and point method. He holds his closed Bible in his hands, closes his eyes, quickly tumbles his Bible several times, then opens it with eyes still closed and points somewhere on the open page. Then believing this is a verse given him by God he opens his eyes and reads the scripture. Unfortunately the verse says “So Judas … went away and hanged himself.” (Matthew 27:5)

Taken aback by such a verse, the man quickly closes his eyes and repeats the process, looking for another scripture. When he opens his eyes this time to his chagrin, his finger is pointing on this verse. “Go thou and do likewise.” (Luke 10:37b)

One of the practices, often warned about in Christian circles, is taking scripture out of context. In other words, quoting and/or applying a scripture passage in a setting that has little or no connection to the original time and circumstance to which it refers.

But consider this. It took just days

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Getting back in the race

Overcoming /

That scene was the defining moment of the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and one of the most remembered moments in Olympic history. Derek Redmond came into ‘92 Olympics with the dream of winning gold. He had battled the last four years, through eight surgeries and hard training, to overcome the disappointment of pulling his Achilles tendon in the opening 400 meter round of the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Barcelona was his chance for redemption. As the British record holder he came into this semi-final in the 400 meters leading all the other competitors with the best time from the first two rounds of qualifying.

Derek Redmond’s triumph in finishing the race is inspiration on two levels. First it touches hearts deeply because Derek got up. Inspite of pulling his hamstring and finding himself laying on the track in utter devastation, he decided to get up and hobble 150 meters to the finish.

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Overcoming broken dreams

9 Comments / Growth & Development, Overcoming /

Broken dreams, everybody has them, but sadly most people have trouble resolving them. Picking our way through a field of broken dreams is not easy. The Bible, right from the outset introduces us to the harsh reality of dealing with broken dreams in our lives. Thankfully we can draw wisdom from those who have gone before us. Imagine what Adam and Eve had to go through to cope with their loss of paradise. And of course we all know what happened to the dreamer Joseph’s dreams. He suffered for years before his dreams made sense.

The book of Exodus introduces us to the biggest field of broken dreams anyone can imagine, it’s called the wilderness. First we encounter Moses whose dream of delivering Israel died with the Egyptian he killed. He ended up burying his dream-turned-nightmare in the backside of the wilderness. But the greatest lessons to be learned about overcoming broken dreams is the story of the children of Israel coming out of Egypt and passing through the wilderness into the Promised Land. The wilderness is the is that place we must pass through in the journey from promise to fulfillment. It is here that God teaches us how to pick our way through a field of broken dreams and position ourselves to be overcomers.

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