We recently enjoyed an evening listening to one of my favourite Christian authors, Philip Yancey, while he was in New Zealand on a whirlwind tour promoting his latest book, What Good is God?

Yancey was relaxed and laid back despite his plane being hit by lightening while landing.

While in New Zealand he spoke on two nights – one at Manukau Baptist in Auckland where we, along with hundreds of others, heard him, and one at Spreydon Baptist in Christchurch.

I have long admired Yancey’s wonderfully down-to-earth and often pithy portrayal of real Christianity in his numerous books. Perhaps the most well-known, and my favourite, is What’s So Amazing About Grace? I look forward to reading his latest offering.

It was a treat to hear him speak on seasons of the soul against a backdrop of a tree in a meadow changing with the seasons.

The evening was pepperd with skits by Searchlight Theatre Group from Birmingham, a three-person acting team. They endeared the audience with their mostly amusing but also moving vignettes, including a piece from Shadowlands, the biographical production of CS Lewis’ life.

On a different track – I have just started reading the Bible in a completely different way using a Rainbow Bible Guide.

This colourful rainbow ribbon bookmark allows you to read from a different section of the Bible each day, while keeping track of where you are.

The aim is to read through the Bible from each of the seven main categories: The law, Old Testament, history, poetry, the prophets, the Gospels, the letters and other writings.

You read from one section each day, as many chapters as you want. But the accompanying guide suggest that if you average four chapters a day, you can read the Old Testament once and the new Testament twice through a year.

The concept has probably been around for yonks but it is the first time I’ve seen it, and it’s giving me a new perspective on the Scriptures.

– Fran Pardon