Now, There’s a Thought

4 A ANSWERS 1. Ray Parker Jr. 2. Dubai. 3. Mauritius. 4. 100 degrees. 5. Thomas Hardy. 6. The 1980s. Q Who had a UK hit with the theme song of the original Ghostbusters film in 1984? In which city is the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa? Which East African country’s national flag comprises four horizontal bands of red, blue, yellow and green? At sea level, what is the boiling point of water in celsius? Who wrote the novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles? In which decade is the TV series Stranger Things set? QUICK QUIZ 1 2 3 5 6

by Jim Burns

It’s handy to have good connections

I’VE had my hands full over the past few days thinking about

hands. Something I had read made me begin trying to call to mind all the everyday expressions that refer to them. We talk about ‘lending a hand’, something ‘getting out of hand’ and ‘trying your hand at something’.

Soon my thoughts turned to the days two years ago when the coronavirus pandemic first became ‘the matter at hand’. Health experts urged us to wash our hands regularly, even specifying the length of time we should take to do so – 20 seconds or the time it took to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ twice. If soap and water were out of reach, we were advised to apply an We have a alcohol-based hand sanitiser. Still today sanitising stations remain need for signs strategically placed in workplaces, shops of connection and entertainment venues so that we can make sure we are not unwittingly contributing to the spread of Covid-19.

Over the past couple of years, we have thought more than we used to about handshakes. Again, in the early days of the pandemic, we were urged not to shake hands. And how we missed the ability simply to touch the hand of family members and friends that we could not meet!

Perhaps we had previously taken for granted such ways of showing respect, conveying affection or providing reassurance.

If we have a human need for such signs of connection, it’s comforting to read in the Bible of how God told one group of people who were facing tough times: ‘I hold you by your right hand – I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, “Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you”’ (Isaiah 41:13 New Living Translation).

When we are trying to find the strength to deal with difficult days or are looking for reassurance that we are not facing life alone, it’s certainly worth keeping that promise of God to hand.