The sun: a pale reflection…
IT'S THE SUMMER SOLSTICE IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE, the winter solstice south of the equator. Let's pause to reflect on this amazing phenomenon we take so much for granted. Our sun is just a very small star, in a very…
On the night train to Romania
CONVERSATIONS IN HUNGARIAN AND ROMANIAN SWIRL AROUND ME on the night train from Sopron in Hungary to Medias in Romania. Nothing is intelligible to me until suddenly I heard the words, 'Da Vinci Code'. I prick up my ears but…
Is a double negative positive?
THE PROFESSOR WAS EXPLAINING TO HIS STUDENTS that, while in many languages a double negative made a positive, a double positive never made a negative. From the back of the lecture hall came the cynical response, "Yeah, right!" Could last…
What’s up with the French?
SOMETHING SURPRISING IS GOING ON IN FRANCE, FAR FROM THE MADDING DEBATE ABOUT THE EU CONSTITUTION. Observers are detecting a post-secular renewal of spiritual interest. Not that anyone suggests this was a factor in the French 'NON'. But while the…
Where empires ebb and flow
FEW PLACES REVEAL THE MANY LAYERS OF EUROPEAN HISTORY LIKE THE DANUBE WATERFRONT OF BUDAPEST. This week Romkje and I, along with other evangelical leaders, visited the Hungarian capital for a cluster of meetings relating to the spreading networks and…