Mike Schorah

We went along to church and to kids' Sunday school practically every week since I was born. As a result I soon learned a lot of the Bible stories and tried to be a nice person. When I was 17 I decided that I really did believe in God, and in Jesus Christ who'd died for me so I committed my life to him. But my life didn't change. I didn't change what I did with my time, money or friends. Mid-way through my time at university even I could see that this just wasn't working. I'd had a great girl friend when I was 17, but I hadn't had one since - even though I was chasing every girl within a five mile radius! Previously work had been easy, but that term they cranked it up a notch at university and for the first time I really found myself struggling. My dad had been a great rock of stability in my life, but in the same few weeks his work closed down and he was unemployed. No longer was the future certain, and I needed his money to help me get through college! It w...

This morning I got asked, "How do I write a blog?" This, culled from various sources, is my answer: Set a schedule, blog often Aim for somewhere between three and six posts a week for the first month. Writing blog posts so often will likely be tough at first: it's something else to do in an already busy schedule, and most people find it hard to write well. But it does get easier with practice. Don't aim for perfection It's generally better to aim for quantity, not quality. Don't try to craft every sentence to perfection, instead get information out to your audience quickly. Write casually but clearly Write quickly, as if you're talking to a friend. Readers want you to get to the point. Ryan Singel, who writes about security and privacy at Wired.com's Threat Level, offers a great tip: Start every post with a good first sentence that describes the story you are going to tell. Assume your reader won't get past the first paragraph. Never start with ...

I once had a romantic flight, all alone, across the South China Sea gazing in fascination down at green island jewels covered in coconut trees, with an attractive sandy strip marking a boundary with the clear blue water. It was the stuff of holiday brochures, but as we circled over Cebu, one of the biggest islands in the Philippine set, I caught sight of shanty-style housing and my first glimpse that all is not perfect. The plane touched down at Mactan airport and I saw the run-down emergency vehicles in their garage. On the roof outside was the motto, “That others may live” and I sensed the Lord saying that that was why I had been sent, even though I myself felt as battered and run down as those pathetic fire engines. Pastor Joy Bendoy, sender of my invitation, was waiting for the plane. The heat, humidity and mosquitoes hit me as, without signalling, we launched into a chaotic stream of vehicles that would never pass a vehicle inspection. That doesn’t seem to matter in the Philippin...

UAE Blackberry update was spyware By Ben Thompson Middle East business reporter, BBC News, Dubai An update for Blackberry users in the United Arab Emirates could allow unauthorised access to private information and e-mails. The update was prompted by a text from UAE telecoms firm Etisalat, suggesting it would improve performance. Instead, the update resulted in crashes or drastically reduced battery life. Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM) said in a statement the update was not authorised, developed, or tested by RIM. Etisalat is a major telecommunications firm based in the UAE, with 145,000 Blackberry users on its books. In the statement, RIM told customers that "Etisalat appears to have distributed a telecommunications surveillance application... independent sources have concluded that it is possible that the installed software could then enable unauthorised access to private or confidential information stored on the user's smartphone". It adds that "indepen...

The BBC News reports a call for governments and companies to limit the snooping they do on web users from Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web. He said that growing oversight of browsing could have a pernicious effect. A greater part of the value of the web lay in the lack of constraints on what people could do with it. He also warned that attempts to censor what people could say or what they could do online were ultimately doomed to failure.

Just heard of joy in the life of an old friend. He's been out of work for some time and for his birthday, his wife could only hire a couple of bikes and take him on a picnic. At the end of the day he said how much he had enjoyed himself and how, if ever they got some money, he would love to buy a couple of bikes. Later that week this lady was walking near their home and saw a nearly-new bike outside a house with a sign reading, "Free for anyone who wants this!" She walked up to the front door and thanked the owner, telling how much this would bring happiness to husband. The house-holder paused for a moment and said, "You know, we've got another bike you can have - a woman's!" And he took our friend's wife to see a nearly-new woman's bike that she was able to take away at the same time! My wife and I were so encouraged to hear this and in it we see the hand of God providing wants, not just needs, for our Christian friends.

Join us in discovering life together, with the power to make a difference. 'Discovering' is quite a humble word: it recognises that we don't have all the answers, but are trying to find them. And it's an open word, inviting others to join us on our journey. 'Life' expresses the longing deep within each of us for, as Jesus put it, 'life in all its fullness' ( John 10:10 ). 'Together' is a challenge to the isolation and breakdown of our society and a recognition that the Gospel is all about relationships restored - with God and with other people. We're exploring with others to find and offer a life-giving community, something that's broken in each of our lives.